Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 365,329 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,857 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Avantor were worth $8,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVTR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 27,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 8,211 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter worth $1,318,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 67.9% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 7,710 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 8,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in Avantor by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 7,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Barclays raised their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James raised their target price on Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Four equities 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $24.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.61. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.63 and a fifty-two week high of $26.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.35 billion, a PE ratio of 50.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.47.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 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.