American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 42,868 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,641,764 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,868 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $34,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners boosted its position in Avantor by 2.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,561,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,298,000 after purchasing an additional 624,369 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 14.9% in the first quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 9,120,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,109,000 after buying an additional 1,180,937 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,099,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,544,000 after buying an additional 297,534 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $156,455,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in Avantor by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 5,418,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,714,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $740,372.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AVTR. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, July 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.40.

Avantor Price Performance

Avantor stock opened at $26.87 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $18.27 billion, a PE ratio of 68.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.32. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $16.63 and a one year high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 5.28%. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avantor Company 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.