Quantinno Capital Management LP Trims Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Quantinno Capital Management LP reduced its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 109,836 shares of the company's stock after selling 30,065 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in Avantor were worth $2,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Avantor by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,980,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Avantor by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Avantor by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,103,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Avantor by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Avantor by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AVTR shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Cowen lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Avantor from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.00 per share, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 53,100 shares of company stock valued at $652,630. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Avantor stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.70. 6,740,431 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,893,284. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.82 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. Avantor's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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.