Simplify Asset Management Inc. Has $1.07 Million Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Simplify Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 53.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,576 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,205 shares during the quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $1,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Avantor by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,976,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,789,000 after acquiring an additional 463,662 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Avantor by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,000 after buying an additional 5,864 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at $156,455,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,476,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,701,000 after acquiring an additional 11,592 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank boosted its position in Avantor by 52.3% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 30,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 10,370 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.40.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR opened at $27.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.82 billion, a PE ratio of 71.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.92 and a 200-day moving average of $24.35. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $16.63 and a one year high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 5.28%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $88,336.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,372.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.