BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 61.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,071 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 49,315 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Avantor were worth $2,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners raised its stake in Avantor by 2.2% during the first 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 during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Avantor by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 22,927,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463,695 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in Avantor by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 9,120,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,109,000 after buying an additional 1,180,937 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Avantor by 1,634.9% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,530,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,839,000 after buying an additional 8,038,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 297,534 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value of $88,336.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $740,372.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup cut 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 research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

Avantor Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $25.83 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.63 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.38. The company has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 66.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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