Great Lakes Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 4.6%, acquiring 56,317 shares, totaling approximately 0.19% ownership valued at $20.4 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Wall Street analysts have set a consensus price target for Avantor at $15.50, with ratings ranging from "Buy" to "Hold," indicating mixed sentiment on the stock's future performance.
• Avantor reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of $0.24, slightly below the consensus estimate, along with revenue of $1.68 billion, marking a 1.1% decline compared to the same period last year.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,281,940 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 56,317 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Avantor worth $20,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 89.8% in 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 in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 53.2% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,034,699 shares of the company's stock valued at $227,502,000 after purchasing an additional 4,876,524 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 19.3% in 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 483.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lifted 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 worth $155,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,446,125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVTR. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on Avantor and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $15.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $12.33. The stock had a trading volume of 6,193,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,783,124. The firm has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $12.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.88. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.82 and a 52 week high of $27.83.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. The trade was a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.