Humankind Investments LLC Acquires 2,400 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Humankind Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,234 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the quarter. Humankind Investments LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in Avantor by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,001,000 after purchasing an additional 30,727,673 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 41.4% in 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. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $142,512,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Avantor by 48.3% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,158,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,963,000 after purchasing an additional 2,983,439 shares during the period. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,145,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,395 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avantor Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $12.03 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.82 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.89.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. Avantor’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 25,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.00 per share, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,000. The trade was a 100.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AVTR. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. TD Cowen cut Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley cut Avantor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.88.

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.