Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Grows Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 249,104 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,126 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $5,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $1,379,837,000 after purchasing an additional 211,189 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,077,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,362,000 after buying an additional 4,948,951 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 8,154,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,886,000 after buying an additional 607,500 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in Avantor by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 7,939,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,251,000 after acquiring an additional 299,333 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,381,154 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $25.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a PE ratio of 53.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.37. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.63 and a twelve month high of $26.16.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 14.11%. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Company 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.