Insider Selling: Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) CAO Sells 4,907 Shares of Stock

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Avantor Price Performance

Avantor stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,975,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,757,332. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.37 billion, a PE ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.28. 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 $16.41 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.74.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.92.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in Avantor by 44.9% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,001,000 after buying an additional 30,727,673 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 1.9% during the 4th 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. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 41.4% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avantor by 58.0% during 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. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 21,037,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,251,000 after buying an additional 112,644 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.