Clarkston Capital Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Clarkston Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,020,325 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,038,235 shares during the quarter. Avantor makes up about 4.0% of Clarkston Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC owned 2.20% of Avantor worth $187,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 119.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Avantor in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Avantor by 60.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 172.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,346 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Avantor by 110.0% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Trading Down 4.0%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $8.18 on Monday. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.14 and a 12-month high of $18.02. The business has a 50 day moving average of $10.70 and a 200-day moving average of $11.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of -10.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.97.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 10.45% and a negative net margin of 8.09%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AVTR. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $8.50 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 price target on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Bank of America downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.16 per share, for a total transaction of $458,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,000. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $940,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Avantor

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $8.50 price target (small upside relative to the current price), signaling limited near-term upside and continued cautious analyst positioning. Barclays Reaffirmation
• Neutral Sentiment: A recent Yahoo Finance piece outlines how analysts are resetting fair-value targets for Avantor, documenting the shift in analyst views but not pointing to an immediate positive catalyst. How The Avantor Story Is Shifting
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option volume: investors bought ~94,708 puts (up ~1,582% vs. typical), indicating significant bearish positioning or hedging activity that can amplify downside volatility.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research issued a wave of cuts to quarterly and full-year EPS estimates, downgraded multiple forward-quarter forecasts and assigned AVTR a “Strong Sell” / Zacks Rank #5 — a material negative read on near-term fundamentals and sentiment. Zacks Adds AVTR to Strong Sell List

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.