Townsquare Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC significantly increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 600.0% during Q1, owning 283,257 shares worth approximately $4.59 million at the quarter's end.
• Analyst ratings for Avantor have varied, with Raymond James setting a target price of $14.00 and others like Goldman Sachs downgrading the stock from "buy" to "neutral," reducing its target from $23.00 to $14.00.
• Avantor's recent earnings report indicated a net margin of 10.31% with earnings per share (EPS) of $0.24, missing analyst estimates slightly, while revenue for the quarter was $1.68 billion.

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 600.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 283,257 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 242,793 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Avantor were worth $4,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in Avantor by 172.9% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 414,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,716,000 after purchasing an additional 262,500 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Avantor by 85.8% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,509 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Avantor by 123.8% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,261,119 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,859 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Avantor by 0.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 508,973 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the period. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP lifted its position in Avantor by 125.3% in the first quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 159,663 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,588,000 after purchasing an additional 88,801 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, August 4th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $15.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Avantor and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.50.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $12.78. 1,824,019 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,659,095. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.86. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.82 and a 52-week high of $27.83. The company has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.96.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at $627,224.52. This trade represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.50 per share, with a total value of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.