Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Bessemer Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 23.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,095,462 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,137,422 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $95,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 288.4% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 121.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Avantor from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on Avantor and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Avantor from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Avantor from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. The trade was a 5.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Price Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $15.13 on Tuesday. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.82 and a 12 month high of $23.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 0.98.

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