Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 634,291 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 90.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,331,968 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 634,291 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $30,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 125.3% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 565.5% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. CKW Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $89,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR opened at $24.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $16.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $25.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.68. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.63 and a 1 year high of $26.16.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. 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 note on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.