The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 460,691 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 128.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 820,058 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 460,691 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.12% of Avantor worth $17,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor during the 2nd quarter worth $1,018,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Avantor during the second quarter worth about $10,058,000. Dryden Capital LLC bought a new position in Avantor during the second quarter worth about $212,000. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 12.0% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 717,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,201,000 after purchasing an additional 77,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 2.4% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 194,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,046,000 after purchasing an additional 4,610 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value of $88,336.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,372.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays raised their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

Avantor Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AVTR opened at $25.55 on Thursday. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.63 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The company has a market capitalization of $17.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.39.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Avantor had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Avantor

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.