Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $88.28 Million Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board significantly reduced its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 74.1%, selling over 15 million shares and owning approximately $88 million worth of shares post-sale.
• Equities analysts have reduced their price targets for Avantor, with notable decreases from firms like Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada, reflecting a cautious outlook.
• Avantor's recent earnings report showed $1.68 billion in revenue for the quarter, slightly above expectations, but it missed earnings per share estimates by $0.01.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lessened its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 74.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,445,888 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,591,201 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.80% of Avantor worth $88,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Avantor by 89.8% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 18,127,204 shares of the company's stock valued at $293,842,000 after purchasing an additional 8,578,493 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Avantor by 19.3% during the first 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 last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Avantor by 483.7% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,823,686 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,562,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,255 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 17.8% during the first quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,591,950 shares of the company's stock valued at $155,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,446,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Avantor during the first quarter valued at approximately $22,033,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the business'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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,224.52. The trade was a 5.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Avantor Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Avantor stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $13.01. 2,447,834 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,815,513. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.98. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.82 and a 1-year high of $27.83. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $13.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. Avantor's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 target price on Avantor and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on Avantor and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.50.

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.