Peregrine Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Peregrine Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 99.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,198 shares of the company’s stock after selling 715,736 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $52,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 17.1% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,433,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,580,655,000 after purchasing an additional 17,170,761 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Avantor by 36.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,933,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,264,449 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Avantor by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,914,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,210,000 after buying an additional 1,879,874 shares in the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Avantor by 45.8% in the 2nd quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,982,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,199,000 after buying an additional 4,390,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,905,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,751,000 after buying an additional 109,207 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Avantor to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Avantor from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Avantor from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial cut Avantor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.60.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $12.41 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.62 and a 12-month high of $23.32. The firm has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -95.43, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.93.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.01). Avantor had a positive return on equity of 10.91% and a negative net margin of 1.25%.The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Avantor has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.880-0.920 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.25 per share, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,375,000. This trade represents a 50.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra acquired 350,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.09 per share, with a total value of $3,881,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,500. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.