Sterling Capital Management LLC Has $850,000 Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 55.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,325 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,341 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,211,418 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 41.4% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,232,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,227,000 after purchasing an additional 81,541 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,785,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,173,000 after purchasing an additional 317,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 8,868,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AVTR shares. 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 reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR stock opened at $15.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $16.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.29. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.80 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The stock has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.