London Co. of Virginia Reduces Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

London Co. of Virginia lowered its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,936,522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 857,435 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia owned 1.75% of Avantor worth $136,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 104.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 203,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,302,000 after acquiring an additional 104,022 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 40.3% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 40.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 40,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,543 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Avantor during the 2nd quarter worth $232,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 214.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 124,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 84,679 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Down 1.4%

AVTR opened at $9.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.76. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.26 and a fifty-two week high of $15.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $8.45 and its 200 day moving average is $9.59. The stock has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.97.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.01. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.42% and a positive return on equity of 9.95%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Avantor’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.32 per share, for a total transaction of $83,200.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Simon Dingemans bought 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $203,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVTR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Avantor to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.57.

About Avantor

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.