Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Sold by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc trimmed its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,845,666 shares of the company's stock after selling 45,469 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned about 0.27% of Avantor worth $42,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 315,000 shares of the company's stock worth $7,191,000 after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Avantor by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,508,557 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,269,000 after purchasing an additional 194,031 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Avantor by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 162,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,724,000 after purchasing an additional 5,997 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Avantor by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 185,769 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in Avantor by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,283,767 shares of the company's stock worth $52,430,000 after buying an additional 342,452 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor Price Performance

NYSE AVTR traded down $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.53. 2,980,139 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,903,083. The company has a market capitalization of $17.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.37. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.63 and a 12-month high of $26.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.26. 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 (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 14.11%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Avantor's quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AVTR. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Avantor in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Avantor has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% 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.