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

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 19,536 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 169% compared to the average daily volume of 7,269 put options.

Avantor Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE AVTR traded down $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $21.48. 4,053,995 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,701,279. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.59 billion, a PE ratio of 55.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.35. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $16.63 and a fifty-two week high of $26.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.78.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Avantor had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 13.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Four equities research 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $156,455,000. CCLA Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 147,220.3% in the first quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 4,720,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,828,000 after buying an additional 4,716,940 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $93,433,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Avantor by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,591,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,957,000 after acquiring an additional 2,381,154 shares during the period. Finally, Avidity Partners Management LP acquired a new position in Avantor during the 4th quarter worth $48,442,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.