Comerica Bank Sells 127,981 Shares of Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Comerica Bank cut its Avantor stake by 30.2%, selling 127,981 shares in Q4 and ending the period with 296,375 shares worth about $3.396 million.
• Insiders purchased a total of 275,000 shares in the last 90 days (including Sanjeev Mehra's 125,000 at $8.01 and Gregory Summe's 100,000 at $9.40), bringing insider ownership to 0.28%.
• Avantor opened at $7.97 (52-week range $7.26–$15.93), reported a slight quarterly beat (EPS $0.17 vs. $0.16; revenue $1.58B vs. $1.54B) but still has a negative net margin and a consensus analyst rating of Hold with a $11.39 price target.

Comerica Bank lowered its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 30.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 296,375 shares of the company's stock after selling 127,981 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Avantor were worth $3,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 119.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,189 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,769 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 60.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,810 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 172.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,709 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 2,346 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $7.97 on Monday. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.26 and a 1 year high of $15.93. The company has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of -9.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock's 50-day moving average is $8.14 and its 200 day moving average is $10.45.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.01. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. Avantor's revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AVTR. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 price objective on Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Evercore set a $10.00 price objective on Avantor in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price objective on Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Avantor from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $11.39.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other Avantor news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 125,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,250.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 475,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,804,750. This trade represents a 35.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 100,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.40 per share, for a total transaction of $940,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,000. This trade represents a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired a total of 275,000 shares of company stock worth $2,399,250 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

About Avantor

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.

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