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

Peregrine Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 11.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 955,136 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 97,598 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned about 0.14% of Avantor worth $15,483,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 106.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in Avantor during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 121.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 2,056 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 52.0% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $13.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,225,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,394,696. The company has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.05. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.82 and a 12-month high of $28.00. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $13.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23. Avantor had a net margin of 10.70% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. Avantor's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, Director Joseph R. Massaro purchased 8,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $12.30 per share, for a total transaction of $99,630.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 35,038 shares in the company, valued at $430,967.40. This trade represents a 30.07% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.50 per share, with a total value of $375,000.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,250,000. This trade represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 83,100 shares of company stock worth $1,027,630 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cowen cut shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $15.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Avantor from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $18.14.

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.