Nomura Holdings Inc. Increases Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 945.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,310 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 81,671 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $1,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in Avantor by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 28,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 4,776 shares during the last quarter. Meridiem Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at $11,829,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Avantor by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Avantor by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 18,136,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,131,000 after buying an additional 443,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Humankind Investments LLC raised its stake in Avantor by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Humankind Investments LLC now owns 11,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph R. Massaro acquired 8,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.30 per share, with a total value of $99,630.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 35,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,967.40. This trade represents a 30.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.00 per share, with a total value of $300,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,000. The trade was 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered Avantor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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 note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, April 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.88.

Avantor Trading Up 4.3%

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $13.40 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.82 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.61.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued 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 business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. Avantor’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avantor 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.