Balefire LLC Decreases Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Balefire LLC trimmed its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 85.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,987 shares of the company’s stock after selling 121,149 shares during the period. Balefire LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 60.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 7,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 119.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AVTR shares. Evercore set a $10.50 target price on Avantor in a report on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Avantor from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Avantor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. UBS Group set a $8.00 price objective on Avantor in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.32 per share, for a total transaction of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Simon Dingemans purchased 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $203,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,500. The trade was a ? increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Avantor Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $10.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.12 and a beta of 0.94. 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 1 year low of $7.26 and a 1 year high of $15.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.40.

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

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.