Raymond James & Associates Decreases Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Raymond James & Associates decreased its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,082,139 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44,930 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Avantor were worth $22,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Avantor by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,561,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,298,000 after purchasing an additional 624,369 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 14.9% during the first quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 9,120,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,109,000 after buying an additional 1,180,937 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 4.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,099,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,544,000 after buying an additional 297,534 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $156,455,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Avantor by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 5,418,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,714,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,976 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVTR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $23.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.21.

Avantor Stock Down 0.6 %

AVTR stock opened at $25.43 on Thursday. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $16.63 and a one year high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.96 and its 200 day moving average is $24.04. The firm has a market cap of $17.27 billion, a PE ratio of 65.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.32.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. Avantor had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS 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.