33,037 Shares in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Purchased by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 33,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Avantor by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AVTR. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Avantor Price Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $16.30 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.37 and a 12-month high of $28.00. The firm has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $19.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 EPS. Research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 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.