Gabelli Funds LLC Has $866,000 Position in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 39.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 110,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 70,500 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $866,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $268,584,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 179.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,468,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,188,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216,565 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at about $73,322,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Avantor by 122.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,495,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,884,000 after acquiring an additional 4,119,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 10,725.4% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,540,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,507,943 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Evercore set a $10.50 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group set a $8.00 target price on Avantor in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Avantor from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Avantor Price Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $13.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $10.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.42. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.26 and a 12-month high of $15.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.81% and a positive return on equity of 9.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.830 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Avantor

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 earnings and revenue beat expectations. Avantor reported adjusted EPS of $0.21 versus the $0.19 consensus estimate and revenue of $1.692 billion versus expectations of $1.61 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $254.3 million, operating cash flow was $178.2 million and free cash flow was $142.8 million. Avantor Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised full-year 2026 guidance. Avantor now expects adjusted EPS of $0.80-$0.83, above the prior consensus estimate of $0.79, and increased its organic revenue outlook. The company also continues targeting adjusted net leverage below 3x, supporting the deleveraging narrative. Avantor 2026 Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: VWR showed signs of recovery. The VWR segment returned to organic growth earlier than expected, while segment execution and strategic initiatives helped support the guidance increase. The earnings beat initially drove a gap higher in AVTR shares.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts lifted price targets. Wells Fargo raised its target to $16 and maintained an overweight rating, while Stifel increased its target to $15 and Morgan Stanley raised its target to $14, although both retained neutral ratings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Growth remains modest. Second-quarter sales increased just 0.5% year over year, while organic revenue declined 0.4%, indicating that the recovery is still uneven.
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability comparisons weakened. Adjusted EPS declined from $0.24 a year earlier, and Avantor reported a $0.06 GAAP EPS result alongside a negative net margin. Jefferies upgraded the stock only to hold with a $13 target, suggesting limited upside after the recent rally.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Profile

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.