Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Holdings Boosted by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 38.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 182,568 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,852 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Avantor were worth $4,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 21.4% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,077,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,362,000 after buying an additional 4,948,951 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 56.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,591,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,957,000 after buying an additional 2,381,154 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 65.6% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,538,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,522,000 after buying an additional 1,005,480 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 777.4% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 951,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,729,000 after buying an additional 843,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the third quarter valued at approximately $16,864,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Trading Down 1.3 %

Avantor stock opened at $25.13 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.63 and a 1 year high of $26.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market cap of $17.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.59.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.71.

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.