Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,921,765 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned about 0.43% of Avantor worth $61,562,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 30,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 16,818 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Avantor by 11.1% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 76,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after acquiring an additional 7,592 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new stake in Avantor during the third quarter worth about $2,575,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the 3rd quarter worth about $497,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 557.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,675,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,950,000 after purchasing an additional 3,963,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avantor Stock Performance

Avantor stock opened at $16.19 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.37 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.40 and a 200-day moving average of $21.42.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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.