Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Cuts Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 22.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,922 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,762 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $2,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in Avantor by 34.1% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,972,000 after buying an additional 88,205 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,766,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,228,000 after acquiring an additional 493,408 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter valued at about $555,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Avantor by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,922,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,504,000 after purchasing an additional 33,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Avantor by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,027,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,792,000 after purchasing an additional 74,735 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Down 2.6 %

AVTR stock opened at $15.79 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $18.16 and its 200 day moving average is $21.20. The firm has a market cap of $10.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $15.37 and a one year high of $28.00. 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 (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AVTR shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

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.