Investment Management Corp of Ontario Sells 3,700 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario reduced its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,885 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Avantor were worth $398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,766,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,228,000 after buying an additional 493,408 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,922,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,504,000 after buying an additional 33,692 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,027,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,792,000 after buying an additional 74,735 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 119,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,509,000 after buying an additional 32,838 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.00 per share, with a total value of $300,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,000. This represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Price Performance

Avantor stock opened at $13.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.82 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.79.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.88.

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.