National Pension Service Sells 83,619 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

National Pension Service cut its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,204,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 83,619 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.18% of Avantor worth $25,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 99.5% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 69.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Finally, CKW Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 116.7% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 5,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’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 $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AVTR opened at $16.71 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.67. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.41 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AVTR shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.92.

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.