Woodline Partners LP Acquires 174,361 Shares of Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 14.5%, owning approximately 1,380,688 shares valued at $22.38 million after acquiring an additional 174,361 shares in the first quarter.
• Avantor reported earnings of $0.24 per share, which fell short of analysts' expectations of $0.25, while quarterly revenue was $1.68 billion, slightly exceeding expectations.
• Several analysts have cut their price targets for Avantor, with the consensus now set at $15.50, indicating a prevailing Hold rating among analysts.

Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 14.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,380,688 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 174,361 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP owned 0.20% of Avantor worth $22,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Avantor by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company's stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the period. American Trust grew its holdings in Avantor by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. American Trust now owns 15,198 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its holdings in Avantor by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 82,523 shares of the company's stock worth $1,767,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,673 shares of the company's stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were 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 represents a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 target price on shares of Avantor and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 target price on shares of Avantor and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.50.

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's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,920,702. The company has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.82 and a 12-month high of $27.83.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 11.39%. Avantor's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current 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.