Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Shares Bought by Perpetual Ltd

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Avantor, Inc. by 3.5%, owning a total of 1,805,497 shares valued at approximately $24.3 million after acquiring an additional 60,823 shares.
• Several institutional investors have significantly modified their holdings in Avantor, with major increases from firms like 1832 Asset Management L.P. and The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company.
• Avantor reported earnings of $0.24 per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate, while its revenue was $1.68 billion, slightly exceeding analyst forecasts.

Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,805,497 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 60,823 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd owned approximately 0.26% of Avantor worth $24,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Avantor in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Avantor by 288.4% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,701 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Avantor by 121.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Avantor by 52.0% during the first 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. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AVTR. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 target price on Avantor and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.50. 15,921,984 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,742,452. The stock has a market cap of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.98. The business's fifty day moving average is $12.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.78. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $10.82 and a one year high of $27.51.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the company's 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.