Federated Hermes Inc. Boosts Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 19.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 628,189 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 104,296 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.09% of Avantor worth $14,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,457,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,379,837,000 after purchasing an additional 211,189 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,077,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,362,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948,951 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 8,154,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,886,000 after purchasing an additional 607,500 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 7,939,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,251,000 after purchasing an additional 299,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,591,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,957,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381,154 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor Stock Up 1.3 %

AVTR stock opened at $24.41 on Tuesday. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.63 and a twelve month high of $26.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $16.55 billion, a PE ratio of 50.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.96 and a 200 day moving average of $22.51.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AVTR. Citigroup upped their price objective on Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Avantor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.71.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $151,911.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.