Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Stake in Avantor, Inc. $AVTR

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 91.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 239,198 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,589,498 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Avantor were worth $2,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its stake in Avantor by 74.2% in the fourth quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 168,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 71,800 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Avantor by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 46,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. bought a new stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter worth about $476,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Avantor by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 818,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,374,000 after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 15,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Simon Dingemans acquired 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $203,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,500. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 10,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,200. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 160,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,287,950. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research raised shares of Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.50 price target on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.82.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $8.11 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.01, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.94 and its 200 day moving average is $9.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Avantor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.26 and a 52-week high of $15.93.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.42% and a positive return on equity of 9.95%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. Avantor’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Trending Headlines about Avantor

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research lifted its FY2027 EPS estimate for Avantor to $0.84 from $0.82 and increased FY2028 EPS to $0.91 from $0.84, suggesting improved longer-term earnings potential.
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also raised Q2 2027 EPS to $0.19 from $0.16 and Q4 2027 EPS to $0.23 from $0.22, reinforcing expectations for better profitability further out.
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research maintained a Hold rating on Avantor, indicating the updates were not strong enough to trigger a more bullish stance.
• Neutral Sentiment: Consensus full-year EPS expectations remain at $0.79, so the analyst changes are incremental rather than a major reset in outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term estimates were cut for FY2026 to $0.78 from $0.81, Q2 2026 to $0.19 from $0.20, Q3 2026 to $0.20 from $0.21, and Q1 2027 to $0.19 from $0.21, which may temper enthusiasm around immediate earnings momentum.

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.