Impax Asset Management Group plc Sells 564,355 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Impax Asset Management Group plc reduced its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 31.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,225,255 shares of the company's stock after selling 564,355 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned about 0.18% of Avantor worth $19,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 106.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in Avantor during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 121.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Avantor by 52.0% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the director owned 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,250,000. The trade was a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph R. Massaro acquired 8,100 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were bought 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 owned 35,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,967.40. This trade represents a 30.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders 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 subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cowen cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Avantor from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.14.

Avantor Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of AVTR traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $13.88. 6,225,578 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,420,036. The company has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. Avantor, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.82 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.61. 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 (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released 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 analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 10.70%. Avantor's revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avantor Company Profile

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.