Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 1,359 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 52.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,972 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Avantor were worth $64,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 121.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered Avantor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.50 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.88.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $13.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.12. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.82 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The firm has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $13.40 and its 200 day moving average is $17.18.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 20,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.65 per share, with a total value of $253,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 70,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $885,500. This represents a 40.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph R. Massaro acquired 8,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.30 per share, for a total transaction of $99,630.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 35,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,967.40. This trade represents a 30.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 83,100 shares of company stock worth $1,027,630. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Company Profile

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.