Aquatic Capital Management LLC Purchases 37,180 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 82.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 82,380 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 37,180 shares during the quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC's holdings in Avantor were worth $1,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in Avantor by 44.9% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,089,001,000 after buying an additional 30,727,673 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 41.4% during the fourth 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 21,037,089 shares of the company's stock worth $443,251,000 after purchasing an additional 112,644 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,232,329 shares of the company's stock worth $236,227,000 after purchasing an additional 81,541 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $18.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph R. Massaro purchased 8,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.30 per share, for a total transaction of $99,630.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 35,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,967.40. The trade was a 30.07 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Down 0.0 %

AVTR stock traded down $0.01 on Thursday, reaching $12.99. 13,765,834 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,338,975. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.55. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $12.20 and a one year high of $28.00. The company has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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.