John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Has $3 Million Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 97.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 142,500 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 70,500 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $3,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 3,625 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Avantor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $695,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Avantor by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 109,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 16,201 shares during the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its holdings in Avantor by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 275,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,801,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG grew its holdings in Avantor by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 7,612,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,397,000 after purchasing an additional 848,814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.92.

Avantor Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $16.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.28. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $16.41 and a one year high of $28.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company earned $0.22 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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.