The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 87.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,101,504 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,632,892 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Avantor were worth $8,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 119.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,189 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Avantor by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in Avantor by 60.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AVTR shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Avantor from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Evercore set a $10.50 target price on Avantor in a report on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Avantor from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Avantor from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Avantor from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.00.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $13.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of -16.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.45. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $7.26 and a one year high of $15.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.78.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during 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 revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.830 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Avantor Company 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.