Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Has $643.23 Million Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 41.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the quarter. Avantor accounts for about 2.2% of Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $643,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Avantor by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,347,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211,418 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Avantor by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Avantor by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,710,000 after buying an additional 2,719,615 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Avantor by 7.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,150,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,791,000 after buying an additional 739,667 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG lifted its stake in Avantor by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 7,612,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,397,000 after buying an additional 848,814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $16.19 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.37 and a twelve month 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.39. The company has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.