By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR – Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,027,636 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,735 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $63,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AVTR. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avantor by 58.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,666,000 after buying an additional 8,206,695 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Avantor by 653.0% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,740,000 after buying an additional 5,354,678 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 557.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,675,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,950,000 after buying an additional 3,963,912 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 18.2% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,710,000 after buying an additional 2,719,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Avantor by 146.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,628,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,996,000 after buying an additional 1,562,018 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Avantor Price Performance
Shares of AVTR opened at $15.81 on Thursday. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.37 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.73 and a 200-day moving average of $22.16.
Avantor (NYSE:AVTR – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Avantor 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 owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade 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 corporate insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
AVTR has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.50.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on AVTR
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.
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