Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Sold by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,263,086 shares of the company’s stock after selling 120,012 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.19% of Avantor worth $26,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 113.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,497,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,026 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Avantor by 146.1% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 217,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after buying an additional 129,010 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,707,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $908,000. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,562,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $25.54. The company had a trading volume of 5,127,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,684,110. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.86 and a 200-day moving average of $24.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.59. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.63 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The company has a market cap of $17.35 billion, a PE ratio of 65.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.32.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 5.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AVTR. Barclays upped their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup cut Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $30.00 to $23.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $88,336.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $740,372.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Avantor 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.