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

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 79,800 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,243% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,940 put options.

Avantor Stock Down 1.9 %

AVTR opened at $20.74 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $14.12 billion, a PE ratio of 45.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.35. Avantor has a 52 week low of $19.11 and a 52 week high of $28.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AVTR shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Avantor from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on 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 target price of $27.57.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $88,336.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at $740,372.64. This represents a 10.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Avantor by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,150,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,791,000 after acquiring an additional 739,667 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its position in shares of Avantor by 125.5% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 24,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 13,700 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 26,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,972,000 after purchasing an additional 88,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 196,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,084,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

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.