Northern Trust Corp Buys 127,561 Shares of Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its ownership in Avantor, Inc. by 2.1%, acquiring an additional 127,561 shares, bringing their total to 6,298,195 shares valued at $102 million.
• Several large investors, including Vanguard Group and Invesco Ltd., also raised their stakes in Avantor during the first quarter, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Avantor missed analysts' earnings expectations for the last quarter, reporting $0.24 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.25, despite slightly beating revenue forecasts.

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,298,195 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 127,561 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.92% of Avantor worth $102,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Avantor by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,952,926 shares of the company's stock worth $1,052,887,000 after acquiring an additional 983,172 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 18,136,206 shares of the company's stock worth $382,131,000 after purchasing an additional 443,501 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 19.3% in the first 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. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,232,884 shares of the company's stock valued at $149,667,000 after purchasing an additional 363,981 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 48.3% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,158,175 shares of the company's stock valued at $192,963,000 after buying an additional 2,983,439 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 the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at $627,224.52. This represents a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $13.2550 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.13 and a 200 day moving average of $14.43. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.82 and a 12 month high of $27.83. The firm has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.39, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business's revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AVTR. Cowen lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Avantor and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Seven 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 an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.

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