J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Decreases Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lessened its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 67.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,936 shares of the company’s stock after selling 80,058 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Avantor were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Avantor by 119.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,189 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Avantor by 60.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in Avantor during the second quarter valued at $47,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra acquired 350,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.09 per share, for a total transaction of $3,881,500.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,881,500. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AVTR. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Avantor from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 target price (down previously from $14.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI set a $12.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $12.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.60.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR stock opened at $10.81 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.62 and a 1-year high of $22.73. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.43. The company has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.15, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Avantor had a negative net margin of 1.25% and a positive return on equity of 10.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avantor Company Profile

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.