HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 18.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,965 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,176 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $437,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 59.6% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 18,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 85.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 5,133 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 7,227 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manhattan West Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,534,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $13.48 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $10.82 and a one year high of $27.83. The company has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.98.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). Avantor had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVTR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

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.