Jennison Associates LLC Grows Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,172,323 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 280,360 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $26,764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Boston Partners increased its stake in Avantor by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,077,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,362,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948,951 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Avantor by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,591,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,957,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381,154 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Avantor by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,538,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005,480 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its position in Avantor by 777.4% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 951,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,729,000 after buying an additional 843,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in Avantor during the third quarter worth $16,864,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR stock opened at $25.46 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.57. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.63 and a 12-month high of $26.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $17.27 billion, a PE ratio of 53.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.37.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays raised their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.71.

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.