Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 21.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,199,260 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 209,021 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $25,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted 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 worth $3,980,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 99.5% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $13.37 on Tuesday. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.82 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $14.71 and a 200 day moving average of $18.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVTR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 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 value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.