Traders Buy High Volume of Avantor Put Options (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 17,661 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 177% compared to the typical volume of 6,382 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their price objective on Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.50.

Insider Activity

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 125.3% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in Avantor by 565.5% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,131 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in Avantor by 815.3% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $25.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.23, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.61. Avantor has a 52 week low of $16.63 and a 52 week high of $26.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.31.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current 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.