First Eagle Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,582 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Avantor by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Avantor by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,103,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in 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 buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $16.34 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.01. 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.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced 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 in the previous year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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.