Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 1,741.4% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Avantor by 42.9% during the first quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 998,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,186,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Avantor by 71.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 102,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 42,700 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Avantor by 3.5% in the second quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,805,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,302,000 after purchasing an additional 60,823 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Avantor by 85.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 5,133 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on Avantor and gave the stock a “hold” rating 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.81.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total value of $39,591.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $627,224.52. This trade represents a 5.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $14.82 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.82 and a 12 month high of $24.86. The company has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.34.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

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.