Verition Fund Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Verition Fund Management LLC lowered its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR – Get Rating) by 25.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,508 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,871 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cigna Investments Inc. New boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 6,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 1.3% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 36,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,220,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 7.9% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 8,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Avantor by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, EVP Christophe Couturier sold 3,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.24, for a total transaction of $74,610.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 94,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,287,528.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Christophe Couturier sold 3,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.24, for a total value of $74,610.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,287,528.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gerard Brophy sold 3,914 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $97,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 108,715 shares in the company, valued at $2,717,875. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,331 shares of company stock worth $456,616 in the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Avantor from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Avantor in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.33.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $23.79 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 1.37. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.79 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 22.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avantor Profile

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Avantor, Inc engages in providing mission critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education and government, and advanced technologies and applied materials industries. It sells materials, equipment, instrumentation, and offers specialty procurement. The firm operates through the following segments: the Americas, Europe, and AMEA.