Sound Shore Management Inc. CT Buys 1,159,426 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Sound Shore Management Inc. CT raised its position in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 32.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,681,535 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,159,426 shares during the period. Avantor makes up approximately 3.3% of Sound Shore Management Inc. CT's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT owned approximately 0.69% of Avantor worth $98,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in Avantor by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,980,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Avantor by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Avantor by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company's stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Avantor by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company's stock worth $2,103,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Avantor by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Avantor in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching $16.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,725,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,613,306. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.37 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The company has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.53.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avantor Profile

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.