Janus Henderson Group PLC Raises Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,136,206 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 443,501 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned approximately 2.66% of Avantor worth $382,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Humankind Investments LLC increased its position in Avantor by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Humankind Investments LLC now owns 11,234 shares of the company's stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 147,657 shares of the company's stock worth $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 45,799 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Avantor by 864.7% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 298,572 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,291,000 after purchasing an additional 267,622 shares during the last quarter. Crestline Management LP grew its holdings in Avantor by 84.7% during the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 24,409 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 11,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its position in Avantor by 102.6% in the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 23,894 shares of the company's stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 12,098 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE AVTR traded down $0.01 during trading on Thursday, reaching $12.84. 9,518,947 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,693,805. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.82 and a 12-month high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $14.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.74.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVTR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 target price (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen downgraded Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $15.50 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company's stock, 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. 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.