Yousif Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 216,744 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,859 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $4,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avantor by 58.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,666,000 after buying an additional 8,206,695 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 653.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,740,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354,678 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Avantor by 557.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,675,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,950,000 after purchasing an additional 3,963,912 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Avantor by 18.2% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719,615 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Avantor by 146.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,628,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,996,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,018 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor Price Performance

Avantor stock opened at $19.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.08 and a 12-month high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 4.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Avantor from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.46.

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.