Meridiem Capital Partners LP Buys New Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Meridiem Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 561,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,829,000. Meridiem Capital Partners LP owned approximately 0.08% of Avantor at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 106.3% in 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 period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position 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 worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.88.

Avantor Stock Up 4.3%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $13.40. 22,017,022 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,776,945. The firm has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.82 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. Avantor's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, 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. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.