Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Stake in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Avantor by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 138,227 shares and leaving it with 999,263 shares valued at about $11.45 million.
• Insider buying has been notable, with directors Sanjeev K. Mehra and Simon Dingemans purchasing shares in recent months; insiders bought 160,000 shares worth roughly $1.29 million over the last three months.
• Avantor’s latest quarterly results topped expectations, reporting EPS of $0.17 on revenue of $1.58 billion, while analysts remain cautious with an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.57.

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 999,263 shares of the company's stock after selling 138,227 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.15% of Avantor worth $11,452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Avantor by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,769 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Avantor by 28.1% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,123 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 905 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Avantor by 60.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,810 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,064 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Avantor by 119.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,189 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Avantor by 0.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 206,386 shares of the company's stock worth $2,576,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 125,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.01 per share, with a total value of $1,001,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 475,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,804,750. This trade represents a 35.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Simon Dingemans bought 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $203,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,500. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 160,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,287,950. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR opened at $9.10 on Thursday. The business's 50-day moving average is $8.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.70. The company has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.76. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.26 and a fifty-two week high of $15.93.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 target price on Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Avantor from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $10.50 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $10.57.

Avantor Company Profile

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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