Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Shares Acquired by Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec

Key Points

• The Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 37.5%, purchasing an additional 32,777 shares to reach a total of 120,169 shares.
• Analysts have set various price targets for Avantor, with estimates ranging from $12.00 to $19.00, and the company has a consensus rating of "Hold".
• Avantor reported quarterly earnings of $0.24 per share, which missed analysts' expectations, alongside a slight decrease in revenue compared to the previous year.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 37.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 120,169 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,777 shares during the quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec's holdings in Avantor were worth $1,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVTR. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Avantor by 89.8% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 18,127,204 shares of the company's stock worth $293,842,000 after purchasing an additional 8,578,493 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Avantor by 53.2% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,034,699 shares of the company's stock worth $227,502,000 after purchasing an additional 4,876,524 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Avantor by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,669,411 shares of the company's stock worth $189,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,273 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Avantor by 483.7% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,823,686 shares of the company's stock worth $29,562,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Avantor by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,591,950 shares of the company's stock worth $155,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,446,125 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $627,224.52. This trade represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Avantor Trading Down 5.2%

Avantor stock traded down $0.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.33. The company had a trading volume of 6,193,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,920,702. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.82 and a 1-year high of $27.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $12.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.93. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.98.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AVTR shares. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock 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 on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven research 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 presently has a consensus 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.