Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,748,915 shares of the company’s stock after selling 116,501 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.70% of Avantor worth $100,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in Avantor by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 106.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Avantor by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup reduced their price target 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. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the 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 $86,019.71. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, 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. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avantor Stock Up 1.4 %

AVTR stock opened at $16.53 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $19.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.94. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.37 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 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 period last year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.