Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 1.5%, purchasing an additional 983,172 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 9.53% of the company.
• A director at Avantor, Gregory L. Summe, bought 30,000 shares valued at $375,000, representing a 42.86% increase in his ownership of the stock.
• Avantor's shares are currently trading at $12.11, showing a 5.3% increase, with analysts setting varying price targets from $13.00 to $17.00.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,952,926 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 983,172 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.53% of Avantor worth $1,052,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Wealthquest Corp bought a new position in shares of Avantor during the first quarter worth $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 121.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted 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 worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 19.8% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,470 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in Avantor during the first quarter valued at $112,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Trading Down 0.5%

AVTR stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.91. The company had a trading volume of 8,953,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,965,157. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.96. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.82 and a 52-week high of $27.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the subject of several research reports. Cowen lowered shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Avantor and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 30,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.50 per share, with a total value of $375,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This represents a 42.86% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. This represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.