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

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 90.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,331,968 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 634,291 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.20% of Avantor worth $30,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Boston Partners increased its stake in Avantor by 21.4% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,077,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,362,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948,951 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 56.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,591,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,957,000 after buying an additional 2,381,154 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 65.6% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,538,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,522,000 after buying an additional 1,005,480 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 777.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 951,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,729,000 after buying an additional 843,298 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Avantor in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,864,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AVTR. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $151,911.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $24.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.37. 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 fifty day moving average price of $25.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.68. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $16.63 and a one year high of $26.16.

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

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.