Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Sells 3,178 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. cut its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,178 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $1,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 76,325,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,609,713,000 after buying an additional 18,711,696 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter worth approximately $118,879,000. Steadfast Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the first quarter worth approximately $106,228,000. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 21.4% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,077,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,362,000 after buying an additional 4,948,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 752.0% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,879,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,681,000 after buying an additional 3,423,993 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR stock opened at $24.10 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.47. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $16.63 and a one year high of $26.16. The company has a market capitalization of $16.35 billion, a PE ratio of 50.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.61.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 14.11%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Avantor’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $151,911.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.71.

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.