HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 12,221 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 58.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,141 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,221 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $698,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in Avantor by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,972,000 after buying an additional 88,205 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its position in shares of Avantor by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,766,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,228,000 after purchasing an additional 493,408 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $555,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Avantor by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,922,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,504,000 after buying an additional 33,692 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in Avantor by 45.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 723,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,708,000 after acquiring an additional 227,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $16.19 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $18.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. 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 52-week low of $15.37 and a 52-week high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.