Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Buys 179,894 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,560,792 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 179,894 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.96% of Avantor worth $138,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Avantor by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,347,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211,418 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Avantor by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719,615 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 7.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,150,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,791,000 after purchasing an additional 739,667 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG increased its position in Avantor by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 7,612,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,397,000 after buying an additional 848,814 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. The trade was 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 opened at $16.19 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.37 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The company has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.42.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AVTR shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.50.

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.