46,279 Shares in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Bought by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 46,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 89.8% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 18,127,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,842,000 after acquiring an additional 8,578,493 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Avantor by 53.2% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,034,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,502,000 after purchasing an additional 4,876,524 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Avantor by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,669,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,161,000 after buying an additional 1,884,273 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 483.7% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,823,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,562,000 after buying an additional 1,511,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,591,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,486,000 after buying an additional 1,446,125 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Avantor from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.96.

Avantor Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE AVTR opened at $15.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 0.98. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.82 and a 1-year high of $23.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.37 and a 200-day moving average of $13.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Avantor’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. This represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.