Advisors Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in Avantor, Inc. by 16.3% during the first quarter, holding a total of 277,173 shares valued at approximately $4.49 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Rise Advisors LLC and Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co., also made significant changes to their stakes in Avantor during the same period.
• Analyst price targets for Avantor have been lowered by multiple institutions, with a consensus price target of $15.50, while the stock currently trades at about $13.02.

Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 16.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 277,173 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 38,942 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Avantor were worth $4,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Avantor during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Avantor by 288.4% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,701 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in Avantor during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Avantor by 121.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Avantor by 52.0% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at $627,224.52. This represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on Avantor and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Avantor from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.50.

Avantor Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $13.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $13.02 and a 200 day moving average of $13.96. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.82 and a fifty-two week high of $27.83.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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