Traders Purchase Large Volume of Avantor Put Options (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 27,108 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 368% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,798 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value of $88,336.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at $740,372.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2,003.6% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 1,830.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the third quarter worth $49,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 89.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the first quarter worth $93,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Avantor in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR opened at $23.72 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $25.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.30. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $16.63 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.11 billion, a PE ratio of 60.82, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.59.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avantor Company 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.