Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Sold by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd cut its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,744,674 shares of the company's stock after selling 22,208 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd owned approximately 0.26% of Avantor worth $28,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Avantor by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Avantor by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,830,719 shares of the company's stock valued at $101,783,000 after buying an additional 68,598 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 325,096 shares of the company's stock worth $6,850,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 101.2% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 106,232 shares of the company's stock worth $2,238,000 after buying an additional 53,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 138,465 shares of the company's stock worth $2,917,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVTR has been the topic of several research reports. Cowen lowered shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $18.88.

Avantor Trading Down 1.4%

Avantor stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $13.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,777,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,347,512. The stock's fifty day moving average is $13.26 and its 200 day moving average is $16.97. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.04. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.30 per share, for a total transaction of $99,630.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 35,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,967.40. This trade represents a 30.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 30,000 shares of the company'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 transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This represents a 42.86% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 83,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,630 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.