Pacific Capital Partners Ltd Purchases New Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Pacific Capital Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 936,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,173,000. Avantor comprises about 9.6% of Pacific Capital Partners Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 121.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Avantor by 52.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 19.8% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the first quarter valued at approximately $112,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AVTR. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Avantor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Cowen downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 30,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.50 per share, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,250,000. This trade represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders acquired 75,000 shares of company stock valued at $928,000 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $14.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a PE ratio of 13.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.05. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.82 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $13.36 and a 200-day moving average of $15.63.

Avantor 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.