Forsta AP Fonden Acquires 262,500 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden significantly increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 172.9%, acquiring a total of 414,300 shares valued at approximately $6.72 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Insider trading activity showed Director Gregory L. Summe purchasing 30,000 shares of Avantor, marking a 42.86% increase in his ownership, while CAO Steven W. Eck sold shares representing a 5.94% decrease in his holdings.
• Avantor reported earnings per share of $0.24 for the last quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25, with revenue slightly down 1.1% year-over-year.

Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 172.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 414,300 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 262,500 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden owned 0.06% of Avantor worth $6,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in Avantor in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Avantor by 121.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 2,056 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Avantor by 52.0% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Avantor by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Avantor by 85.8% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,509 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AVTR. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Cowen lowered shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Monday, August 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AVTR traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.78. 1,824,019 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,659,095. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company's 50 day moving average is $13.19 and its 200 day moving average is $14.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.96. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $10.82 and a one year high of $27.83.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. Avantor's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.50 per share, with a total value of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly 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 corporate insiders.

About Avantor

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.