Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Holdings Lifted by Clarkston Capital Partners LLC

Key Points

• Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 17.8%, now owning 9,591,950 shares, making it 12th among its largest holdings.
• Avantor reported a quarterly EPS of $0.24, slightly below analysts' expectations, while its revenue was $1.68 billion, indicating a 1.1% decline year-over-year.
• Recent analyst reports have seen a decrease in price targets for Avantor, with Wells Fargo lowering its target from $19.00 to $16.00, reflecting a generally cautious outlook.

Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 17.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,591,950 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,446,125 shares during the period. Avantor comprises about 3.1% of Clarkston Capital Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC owned 1.41% of Avantor worth $155,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,952,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,052,887,000 after purchasing an additional 983,172 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,969,199 shares of the company's stock valued at $680,321,000 after purchasing an additional 608,806 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 18,136,206 shares of the company's stock valued at $382,131,000 after purchasing an additional 443,501 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,669,411 shares of the company's stock valued at $189,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,273 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,232,884 shares of the company's stock valued at $149,667,000 after purchasing an additional 363,981 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $12.88 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.82 and a 12 month high of $27.83. The company has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.96.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. Avantor's revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Cowen lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 30,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.50 per share, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,250,000. The trade was a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total value of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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