Steph & Co. Boosts Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Steph & Co. raised its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,130 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,388 shares during the period. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Avantor by 84.8% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,165,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,612,000 after acquiring an additional 534,901 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Avantor by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,283,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,430,000 after acquiring an additional 342,452 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Avantor by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,508,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,269,000 after acquiring an additional 194,031 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Avantor by 9.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,129,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,049,000 after acquiring an additional 342,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in Avantor by 12.7% during the third quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 658,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,883,000 after acquiring an additional 74,078 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Down 0.9 %

AVTR stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $24.38. 5,696,340 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,732,252. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.63 and a 1 year high of $26.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.41. The stock has a market cap of $16.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 14.11%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Avantor’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Avantor

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.