American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 567,704 Shares of Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 32.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,327,507 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 567,704 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $37,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 59.6% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 18,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 85.5% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 5,133 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 33.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 7,227 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 121.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during the period. Finally, Manhattan West Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the first quarter worth $1,534,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $12.88 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.82 and a 12-month high of $27.83. The firm has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.01, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.96.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.50 per share, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This trade represents a 42.86% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $627,224.52. This represents a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. TD Cowen cut Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

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.