Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Sold by Otter Creek Advisors LLC

Otter Creek Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 92.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,163 shares of the company’s stock after selling 196,935 shares during the quarter. Otter Creek Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 2.1% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Avantor by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,103,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Avantor by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE AVTR opened at $17.22 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a PE ratio of 16.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.14 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.79.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.92.

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.