Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 3,514,385 Shares of Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 97.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,070 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,514,385 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 124.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,617 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its position in Avantor by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 20,500,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,937,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189,083 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia purchased a new stake in Avantor during the third quarter valued at $159,669,000. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 83.0% during the third quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 285,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after purchasing an additional 129,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voss Capital LP lifted its position in Avantor by 905.6% during the third quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 4,525,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,472,000 after purchasing an additional 4,075,000 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AVTR. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $10.50 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group set a $8.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research lowered Avantor to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.32 per share, for a total transaction of $83,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Simon Dingemans purchased 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.14 per share, with a total value of $203,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,500. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $10.29 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.71, a PEG ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Avantor, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.26 and a 52 week high of $15.93.

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

Avantor Company 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.