Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 280,337 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,936 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $5,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Avantor by 3.1% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,240,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,701,000 after acquiring an additional 98,201 shares during the period. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Avantor by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC now owns 33,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Avantor by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 785,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,648,000 after purchasing an additional 4,754 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Avantor by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 22,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 2,103.5% in the 2nd quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 79,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after buying an additional 76,232 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $88,336.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,372.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVTR. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.40.

Avantor Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $27.21 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $24.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.29. The stock has a market cap of $18.50 billion, a PE ratio of 69.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.63 and a 52-week high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 5.28%. Equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current 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.