Clarkston Capital Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 42.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,629,389 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,475,676 shares during the period. Avantor comprises about 5.2% of Clarkston Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC owned 1.26% of Avantor worth $67,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Avantor by 50.4% in the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 2,456,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,156,000 after buying an additional 823,572 shares during the last quarter. Brickwood Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 6,891.9% during the fourth quarter. Brickwood Asset Management LLP now owns 3,184,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,489,000 after acquiring an additional 3,138,504 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,490,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Avantor by 209.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 401,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,607,000 after purchasing an additional 272,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Agman Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,915,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $11.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.94. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.26 and a 1 year high of $15.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.40.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Simon Dingemans bought 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.14 per share, with a total value of $203,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,200. This represents a 20.00% 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 company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AVTR. Zacks Research raised Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research lowered Avantor to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Avantor in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $10.50 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on Avantor from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore set a $10.50 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.62.

Avantor Profile

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.