Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Sells 1,298,401 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,280,906 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,298,401 shares during the period. Avantor accounts for about 1.6% of Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned 3.28% of Avantor worth $472,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AVTR. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Avantor by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,561,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,298,000 after acquiring an additional 624,369 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Avantor by 6.8% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 22,927,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463,695 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,180,937 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 4.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,099,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,544,000 after buying an additional 297,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 6,006,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,348,000 after buying an additional 287,717 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value of $88,336.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at $740,372.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.40.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR opened at $26.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.63 and a 12-month high of $28.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a PE ratio of 69.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.32.

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

Avantor 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.