Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Shares Acquired by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 53.2% in Q1, acquiring over 4.8 million shares, now holding 2.06% of the company valued at approximately $227.5 million.
• Several institutional investors also significantly boosted their holdings in Avantor, with 1832 Asset Management increasing its stake by 89.8% during the same period.
• Avantor reported $0.24 EPS last quarter, slightly missing analyst expectations and indicating a 1.1% year-over-year decline in revenue.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 53.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,034,699 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,876,524 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 2.06% of Avantor worth $227,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Avantor by 141.2% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 23,052 shares of the company's stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 13,495 shares during the period. Broyhill Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 69.6% in the first quarter. Broyhill Asset Management LLC now owns 365,055 shares of the company's stock worth $5,918,000 after acquiring an additional 149,758 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its position in shares of Avantor by 34.2% in the first quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 160,013 shares of the company's stock worth $2,594,000 after acquiring an additional 40,764 shares during the period. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 15.0% in the first quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 1,272,101 shares of the company's stock worth $20,621,000 after acquiring an additional 166,269 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of Avantor by 4.5% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 279,732 shares of the company's stock worth $4,534,000 after acquiring an additional 12,018 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Insider Activity at Avantor

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

Avantor Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Avantor stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $13.30. The stock had a trading volume of 9,775,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,879,945. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $13.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.16. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.82 and a 12-month high of $27.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.98.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 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 company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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.