PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Reduces Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. trimmed its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,505 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,227 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $959,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Avantor by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 106.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Avantor by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Finally, CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in Avantor by 116.7% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 5,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AVTR. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Avantor Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE AVTR opened at $16.53 on Tuesday. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.37 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS 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.