Janus Henderson Group PLC Boosts Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,136,206 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 443,501 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 2.66% of Avantor worth $382,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Avantor by 146.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,628,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,996,000 after buying an additional 1,562,018 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in Avantor by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 77,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after buying an additional 3,825 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its position in Avantor by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 551,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,615,000 after buying an additional 20,540 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its position in Avantor by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 5,357,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,940,000 after buying an additional 229,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its position in Avantor by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 24,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 1,496 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup cut their target price on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Cowen downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.88.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR stock opened at $12.03 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.82 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.89.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, Director Joseph R. Massaro acquired 8,100 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.30 per share, with a total value of $99,630.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 35,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,967.40. This represents a 30.07% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 25,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $12.00 per share, with a total value of $300,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $600,000. This represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.