First Bank & Trust Cuts Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

First Bank & Trust lessened its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,679 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,708 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Avantor were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 480,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,277,000 after acquiring an additional 13,047 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its position in Avantor by 14.9% during the first quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 9,120,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,937 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. lifted its position in Avantor by 21.7% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 17,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 3,070 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 42,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,094,000 after buying an additional 3,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 36.5% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 77,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,970,000 after buying an additional 20,606 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.36.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $21.20 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.61. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $16.63 and a one year high of $26.16. The firm has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a PE ratio of 54.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.35.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. Avantor had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 3.79%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. Avantor’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

About Avantor

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.