Sargent Investment Group LLC Acquires New Shares in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Sargent Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 3.8% in the first quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 11,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Avantor by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 186,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,955,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Avantor by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in Avantor by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 91,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,342,000 after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Avantor by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 71,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AVTR. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Avantor in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup cut Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $30.00 to $23.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.40.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value 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 through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $26.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.59. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.63 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.67 and a 200-day moving average of $24.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.32.

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