Swedbank AB Grows Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 71.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 102,514 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 42,700 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Avantor were worth $1,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Avantor by 89.8% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 18,127,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,842,000 after acquiring an additional 8,578,493 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Avantor by 53.2% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,034,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,502,000 after acquiring an additional 4,876,524 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,669,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,161,000 after buying an additional 1,884,273 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 483.7% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,823,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,562,000 after buying an additional 1,511,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,591,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,486,000 after buying an additional 1,446,125 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total value of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. The trade was a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $12.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Avantor, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.82 and a 52 week high of $27.09.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. Avantor’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AVTR. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.50.

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.