J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Buys 81,632 Shares of Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 218.5%, acquiring an additional 81,632 shares during the second quarter, resulting in a total holding worth $1,602,000.
• Institutional investors hold 95.08% of Avantor's stock, with significant stakes being increased by firms such as Stanley Capital Management and Fifth Third Bancorp.
• Analysts have set a consensus rating of "Hold" for Avantor shares, with an average price target of $15.65, following mixed sentiments reflected in recent price target adjustments.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 218.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,994 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 81,632 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Avantor were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stanley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Avantor by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 998,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,186,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Avantor by 1,741.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 73,141 shares of the company's stock valued at $984,000 after acquiring an additional 69,169 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Avantor by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 102,514 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,380,000 after acquiring an additional 42,700 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Avantor by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,805,497 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,302,000 after acquiring an additional 60,823 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Avantor by 85.5% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 5,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on 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 Avantor and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research 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, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.65.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR opened at $14.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.98. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.82 and a 52-week high of $26.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business's fifty day moving average is $12.76 and its 200-day moving average is $13.53.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $627,224.52. This represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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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