Allstate Corp Buys New Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 20,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,921,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,562,000 after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in Avantor by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 132,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,785,000 after buying an additional 5,268 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,560,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,236,000 after buying an additional 179,894 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,311,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $142,512,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $16.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.05 and a 200-day moving average of $21.17. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $15.37 and a one year high of $28.00. The company has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AVTR. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

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.