BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 21,150 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 238,835 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,150 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Avantor were worth $5,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company's stock worth $2,089,001,000 after acquiring an additional 30,727,673 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $1,347,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211,418 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $643,227,000 after buying an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake 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 buying an additional 112,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,232,329 shares of the company's stock worth $236,227,000 after buying an additional 81,541 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $15.50 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.00 per share, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm'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 $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avantor Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $13.37. The stock had a trading volume of 10,614,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,806,096. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $11.82 and a one year 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 company has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. The business's 50 day moving average is $14.71 and its 200-day moving average is $18.50.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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.