Nordea Investment Management AB Reduces Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Nordea Investment Management AB reduced its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 296,349 shares of the company's stock after selling 143,723 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB's holdings in Avantor were worth $6,806,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,267,494 shares of the company's stock worth $190,017,000 after acquiring an additional 543,827 shares during the last quarter. Credit Suisse AG lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 43.5% in the 2nd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 1,254,238 shares of the company's stock worth $25,762,000 after acquiring an additional 380,114 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,129,447 shares of the company's stock worth $87,049,000 after acquiring an additional 342,553 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 658,563 shares of the company's stock worth $13,883,000 after acquiring an additional 74,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 235,591 shares of the company's stock worth $4,966,000 after acquiring an additional 75,898 shares during the last quarter. 89.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AVTR shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.14.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Avantor stock traded up $0.14 on Friday, reaching $26.07. The stock had a trading volume of 2,750,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,971,983. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.63 and a 1 year high of $26.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.37.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 14.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Avantor Company Profile

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.