Avantor, Inc. $AVTR Shares Acquired by Zuckerman Investment Group LLC

Key Points

• Zuckerman Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Avantor, Inc. by 15.0% in the first quarter, owning 1,272,101 shares, which represents 2.2% of its investment portfolio.
• Avantor recently reported a quarterly revenue of $1.68 billion, slightly exceeding analysts' forecasts, but its earnings per share (EPS) fell short of expectations at $0.24.
• Several analysts have revised their price targets for Avantor, with Goldman Sachs lowering the stock's rating to "neutral" and adjusting the target price from $23.00 to $14.00.

Zuckerman Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 15.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,272,101 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 166,269 shares during the quarter. Avantor makes up about 2.2% of Zuckerman Investment Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC owned about 0.19% of Avantor worth $20,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Avantor by 59.6% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 18,869 shares of the company's stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Avantor by 85.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,135 shares of the company's stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 5,133 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Avantor by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,746 shares of the company's stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 7,227 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Avantor by 121.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manhattan West Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Avantor during the 1st quarter worth $1,534,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded up $0.27 on Friday, hitting $13.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,423,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,110,482. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.82 and a 12 month high of $27.83. The company has a market capitalization of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.96. The stock's 50-day moving average is $13.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business 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 company posted $0.25 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $13.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price objective on Avantor and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

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 value of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. This represents a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.