Woodline Partners LP Takes Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,206,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,417,000. Woodline Partners LP owned about 0.18% of Avantor as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,980,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,103,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Avantor by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.65 per share, for a total transaction of $253,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 70,000 shares in the company, valued at $885,500. The trade was a 40.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 53,100 shares of company stock worth $652,630. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AVTR shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $24.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.88.

Avantor Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of AVTR stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $12.70. The company had a trading volume of 6,740,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,893,284. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.82 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The company has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $14.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.29.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avantor 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.