Norris Perne & French LLP MI Acquires 455,963 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI grew its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 91.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 956,625 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 455,963 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Avantor were worth $15,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AVTR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Avantor by 10.5% in 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 grew its position in shares of Avantor by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. American Trust now owns 15,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake 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 valued at $2,917,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 106.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its position in shares of Avantor by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 82,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,767,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, Director Joseph R. Massaro bought 8,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.30 per share, with a total value of $99,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 35,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,967.40. This trade represents a 30.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $12.00 per share, with a total value of $300,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $600,000. This represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 83,100 shares of company stock worth $1,027,630. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $13.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.04. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.82 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 10.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Cowen lowered shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of 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. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.88.

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.