Bessemer Group Inc. Grows Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,232,884 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 363,981 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 1.35% of Avantor worth $149,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Avantor by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,830,719 shares of the company's stock worth $101,783,000 after buying an additional 68,598 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Avantor by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 325,096 shares of the company's stock worth $6,850,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Avantor by 101.2% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 106,232 shares of the company's stock worth $2,238,000 after buying an additional 53,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Avantor by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 138,465 shares of the company's stock worth $2,917,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AVTR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Avantor from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Cowen cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.88.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.19 on Friday, hitting $13.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,777,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,352,338. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.90. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.82 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a PE ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 10.70%. Avantor's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 25,000 shares of Avantor 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $600,000. The trade was a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph R. Massaro acquired 8,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.30 per share, for a total transaction of $99,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 83,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,630. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.