Avantor Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AVTR)

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value of $88,336.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,372.64. This represents a 10.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Avantor by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Avantor by 1,634.9% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,530,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 8,038,451 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Avantor by 653.0% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,740,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354,678 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 557.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,675,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,950,000 after acquiring an additional 3,963,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 2nd quarter valued at $76,412,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AVTR shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Avantor from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Avantor from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.57.

Avantor Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE AVTR opened at $20.75 on Friday. Avantor has a 12 month low of $19.11 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.11, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

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.