New York State Teachers Retirement System Acquires 5,671 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 343,022 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,671 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.05% of Avantor worth $5,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVTR. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 106.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Avantor by 121.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Avantor by 52.0% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avantor Stock Down 0.1%

AVTR stock opened at $13.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.58. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.82 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AVTR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen lowered Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $15.50 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Seven 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, Avantor has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.50 per share, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,250,000. The trade was a 42.86% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph R. Massaro purchased 8,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $12.30 per share, for a total transaction of $99,630.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 35,038 shares in the company, valued at $430,967.40. This represents a 30.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 83,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,630 in the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avantor 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.