LPL Financial LLC Raises Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 25.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 139,394 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,706 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Avantor were worth $2,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Avantor by 27.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 50,848 shares of the company's stock worth $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 10,980 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Avantor by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,101 shares of the company's stock worth $26,442,000 after purchasing an additional 165,565 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Avantor by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 50,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,492 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 196,539 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,084,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Avantor by 3.6% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 26,618 shares of the company's stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.08.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR traded down $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,484,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,598,821. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.80 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The firm has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The business's fifty day moving average price is $16.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avantor Company Profile

Avantor, Inc engages in the provision of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education and government, advanced technologies, and applied materials industries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers materials and consumables, such as purity chemicals and reagents, lab products and supplies, formulated silicone materials, customized excipients, customized single-use assemblies, process chromatography resins and columns, analytical sample prep kits, education and microbiology products, clinical trial kits, peristaltic pumps, and fluid handling tips.