Bancreek Capital Management LP Sells 167,291 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Bancreek Capital Management LP lowered its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 553,797 shares of the company’s stock after selling 167,291 shares during the period. Avantor makes up approximately 11.4% of Bancreek Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Bancreek Capital Management LP’s holdings in Avantor were worth $11,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in Avantor by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 109,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,315,000 after buying an additional 5,483 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 214,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,509,000 after acquiring an additional 5,081 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Avantor by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 273,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,760,000 after acquiring an additional 18,480 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Avantor by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 113,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at $696,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avantor Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $16.61 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.37 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, 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 current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.74.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AVTR. Barclays reduced their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

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.