First Bank & Trust Has $275,000 Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

First Bank & Trust trimmed its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 10.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,952 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,947 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Avantor were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVTR. New South Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Avantor by 35.8% during the first quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,784,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,929,000 after buying an additional 470,472 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter worth approximately $345,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 955,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,483,000 after acquiring an additional 97,598 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 343,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,560,000 after acquiring an additional 5,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 483.7% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,823,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511,255 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Trading Down 0.3%

AVTR opened at $13.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.82 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $13.14 and its 200 day moving average is $16.72.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.50 per share, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This represents a 42.86% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph R. Massaro purchased 8,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.30 per share, with a total value of $99,630.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 35,038 shares in the company, valued at $430,967.40. The trade was a 30.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 83,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,630 over the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.14.

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.