Avantor Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 23,737 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 316% compared to the average volume of 5,705 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.60.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR opened at $26.06 on Friday. Avantor has a 52 week low of $16.63 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.32.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 5.28%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $88,336.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,372.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 113.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,497,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,857,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325,026 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter valued at $2,707,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter valued at $908,000. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter worth $4,562,000. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter worth about $2,971,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

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.