Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 65,988,977 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,135,279 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.68% of Avantor worth $823,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in Avantor by 17.1% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,433,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,580,655,000 after purchasing an additional 17,170,761 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Avantor in the third quarter worth approximately $228,528,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Avantor by 36.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,933,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,264,449 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Avantor by 13.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,914,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,879,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 45.8% during the second quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,982,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,199,000 after acquiring an additional 4,390,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $940,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra bought 350,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.09 per share, for a total transaction of $3,881,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,881,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective (down previously from $14.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 price target on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 price objective on Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 target price on Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.83.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR stock opened at $9.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Avantor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.90 and a 1 year high of $18.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.19 and a 200 day moving average of $12.10. The company has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.56, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.94.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 10.45% and a negative net margin of 8.09%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

About Avantor

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.