Jennison Associates LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 31.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,172,323 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 280,360 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.17% of Avantor worth $26,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Avantor Trading Down 0.7 %

AVTR stock opened at $25.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $17.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.04, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.37. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.63 and a 1-year high of $26.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.57.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AVTR. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

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.