Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Avantor (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 77,023 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,787% compared to the average daily volume of 4,081 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 125,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.01 per share, with a total value of $1,001,250.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 475,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,804,750. This trade represents a 35.71% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 50,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.16 per share, with a total value of $458,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $458,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 210,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,745,950. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 104.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 203,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,302,000 after purchasing an additional 104,022 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Avantor by 40.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Avantor by 40.2% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 40,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,543 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Avantor in the second quarter worth approximately $232,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Avantor by 214.9% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 124,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 84,679 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on AVTR shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 target price on Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 target price on Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $9.00 target price on Avantor in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.82.

Avantor Price Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $7.93 on Friday. Avantor 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 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market cap of $5.41 billion, a PE ratio of -9.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.06.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Avantor will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.