New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 21,177 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 858,203 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,177 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Avantor were worth $19,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 84.8% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,165,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,612,000 after acquiring an additional 534,901 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Avantor by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 628,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,342,000 after buying an additional 104,296 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,283,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,430,000 after acquiring an additional 342,452 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Avantor by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,508,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,269,000 after acquiring an additional 194,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Avantor by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,129,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,049,000 after acquiring an additional 342,553 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $23.94 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.08 and a 200 day moving average of $22.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.63 and a 1-year high of $26.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.24 billion, a PE ratio of 49.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.37.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $151,911.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AVTR shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.71.

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.