abrdn plc Buys 843,298 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

abrdn plc increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 777.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 951,775 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 843,298 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.14% of Avantor worth $21,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVTR. Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in Avantor by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 3,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Avantor by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 30,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 46,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $25.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a PE ratio of 53.45, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.55. 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 one year low of $16.63 and a one year high of $26.16.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.