William Blair Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

William Blair Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 99.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,225 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,410,817 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Avantor during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 288.4% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 121.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during the period. Finally, S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the 1st quarter worth approximately $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AVTR. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Avantor from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on Avantor and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Avantor from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.81.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total value of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $627,224.52. This trade represents a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Avantor Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of AVTR opened at $15.19 on Tuesday. Avantor, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.82 and a 52 week high of $24.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $13.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.33.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business’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 posted $0.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

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.