Vident Advisory LLC Buys Shares of 25,852 Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC has made a new investment of $419,000 in Avantor, Inc. by purchasing 25,852 shares during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL et al., have increased their holdings in Avantor, with 95.08% of the stock now owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Analysts have lowered their price targets on Avantor shares, with estimates now ranging from $12.00 to $17.00, reflecting a generally cautious outlook for the company.

Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 25,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Avantor by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. American Trust lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 15,198 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its position 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 valued at $1,767,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 9.0% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,673 shares of the company's stock valued at $173,000 after buying an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 19.8% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on Avantor and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Avantor from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price objective on Avantor and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total value of $39,591.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $627,224.52. This trade represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avantor Price Performance

Avantor stock traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $12.33. 6,193,861 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,920,702. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.93. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.82 and a 12 month high of $27.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.98.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. Avantor's revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.