Balefire LLC Buys 79,612 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Balefire LLC boosted its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 50.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 236,379 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 79,612 shares during the quarter. Avantor makes up 1.3% of Balefire LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Balefire LLC's holdings in Avantor were worth $3,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company's stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. American Trust grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 15,198 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 138,465 shares of the company's stock worth $2,917,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 106.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 82,523 shares of the company's stock worth $1,767,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of Avantor stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $13.55. 12,777,145 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,347,582. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.82 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.82.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 10.70%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph R. Massaro bought 8,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.30 per share, with a total value of $99,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 35,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,967.40. This trade represents a 30.07% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.00 per share, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $600,000. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 83,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,630. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVTR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $15.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays cut their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $18.88.

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.