Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 51,425 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 671,753 shares of the company's stock after selling 51,425 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned approximately 0.10% of Avantor worth $14,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Avantor by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Avantor by 106.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Avantor by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Avantor by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 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 $86,019.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on AVTR shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reiterated 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. Barclays cut their target price on Avantor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.82.

Avantor Trading Down 16.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded down $2.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.93. The company had a trading volume of 43,597,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,118,534. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $12.20 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.72.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Avantor 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.