Investors Purchase High Volume of Avantor Put Options (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 77,023 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,787% compared to the average volume of 4,081 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.01 per share, with a total value of $1,001,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 475,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,804,750. This trade represents a 35.71% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have bought 210,000 shares of company stock worth $1,745,950 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Avantor by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,617 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. bought a new position in Avantor during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $228,528,000. Sector Gamma AS lifted its holdings in Avantor by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 477,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,954,000 after buying an additional 104,466 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Avantor by 1,333.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 246,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,076,000 after buying an additional 229,293 shares during the period. Finally, London Co. of Virginia bought a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $159,669,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AVTR. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Avantor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.82.

Avantor Trading Down 3.8%

AVTR traded down $0.31 on Friday, hitting $7.64. 7,959,967 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,116,430. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of -9.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.94. Avantor has a 12 month low of $7.26 and a 12 month high of $15.93.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Avantor will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current 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.