Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Shares Bought by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 28% in Q1, owning approximately 6.26 million shares valued at over $101 million.
• Avantor reported Q2 earnings of $0.24 per share, missing estimates, with revenue slightly declining by 1.1% year-over-year to $1.68 billion.
• Research firms have set varying price targets for Avantor, with a consensus target price of $15.50, while the stock currently trades around $13.30.

Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 28.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,262,052 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,370,577 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.92% of Avantor worth $101,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Avantor by 288.4% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,701 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 121.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 52.0% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter worth $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $13.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.09. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $10.82 and a twelve month high of $27.83. The company has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.98. 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 (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced 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). Avantor had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AVTR. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on Avantor and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price target on Avantor and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $13.00 target price (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $627,224.52. The trade was 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. 1.20% of the stock is 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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