Avantor Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 29,996 put options on the company. This is an increase of 463% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,332 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,972,000 after buying an additional 88,205 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new stake in Avantor in the second quarter valued at approximately $76,412,000. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Avantor in the second quarter worth approximately $642,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the 3rd quarter worth $8,473,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at $555,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $22.14. 6,042,606 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,101,021. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.35. The firm has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.13, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.28. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $19.59 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AVTR. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Avantor from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.38.

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.