Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Shares Sold by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc lessened its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 35.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 435,622 shares of the company’s stock after selling 240,546 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.06% of Avantor worth $7,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position 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 worth $132,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. American Trust raised its stake in Avantor by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 15,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its holdings in Avantor by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 82,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,767,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 9.0% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 19.8% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. This trade represents a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.50 per share, with a total value of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,250,000. This trade represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR opened at $12.88 on Thursday. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $10.82 and a one year high of $27.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $13.15 and its 200-day moving average is $14.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.96.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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.