Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Stock Position Raised by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 741,947 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,863 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Avantor worth $15,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2,003.6% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 1,830.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 203,100.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,031 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Avantor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $93,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Avantor by 5,773.0% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 5,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,773 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.40.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $26.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a PE ratio of 69.21, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.32. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.63 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.36.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 5.28%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at $740,372.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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.