Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Sold by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. trimmed its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,084,416 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,760 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $22,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the second quarter valued at $783,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 89.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,285 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. purchased a new stake in Avantor in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 278.0% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 5,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 189.7% during the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 203,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,252,000 after acquiring an additional 132,953 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Stock Performance

Avantor stock opened at $19.15 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.54. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $19.08 and a one year high of $28.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.03 billion, a PE ratio of 41.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.28.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AVTR. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James cut their target price on Avantor from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.46.

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.