Hsbc Holdings PLC Has $2.51 Million Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC sharply increased its stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter, boosting holdings by 635% to 218,287 shares valued at about $2.51 million.
• Institutional ownership in Avantor remains very high at 95.08%, with several other major investors also adding positions, including Morgan Stanley and Wellington Management.
• Analysts are mixed on the stock: the consensus rating is "Reduce" with an average price target of $10.62, while Avantor recently reported earnings and revenue that topped estimates for the quarter.

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 635.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 218,287 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 188,587 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in Avantor were worth $2,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at about $268,584,000. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the third quarter worth approximately $159,669,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 179.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,468,418 shares of the company's stock valued at $200,188,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216,565 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,322,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 122.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,495,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,884,000 after purchasing an additional 4,119,522 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Avantor from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research downgraded Avantor to an "underperform" rating and set a $7.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Evercore set a $10.50 price target on Avantor in a research note on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Avantor in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $10.50 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $10.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Simon Dingemans purchased 25,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.14 per share, with a total value of $203,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,500. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 10,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.32 per share, for a total transaction of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 60,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avantor Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:AVTR opened at $10.39 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.26 and a 1-year high of $15.93. The business's 50-day moving average price is $9.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.83, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.94.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

About Avantor

Avantor, Inc NYSE: AVTR is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor's offerings are organized across two primary segments.

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