First Light Asset Management LLC Sells 254,571 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

First Light Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 596,124 shares of the company’s stock after selling 254,571 shares during the quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $12,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Avantor by 1,634.9% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,530,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,839,000 after buying an additional 8,038,451 shares during the period. Symmetry Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $265,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its stake in Avantor by 45.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 822,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,428,000 after acquiring an additional 256,589 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Avantor by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 741,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,729,000 after purchasing an additional 18,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new position in Avantor during the second quarter worth $76,412,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Avantor in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup lowered shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.40.

Avantor Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $26.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.36. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.63 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.15, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.32.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Avantor had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value of $88,336.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,372.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.