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

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 29,996 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 463% compared to the average daily volume of 5,332 put options.

Avantor Trading Up 3.9 %

NYSE AVTR opened at $22.60 on Friday. Avantor has a 52 week low of $19.59 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.14, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Avantor by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 69.6% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Avantor by 89.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in Avantor by 278.0% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 5,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AVTR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Avantor from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Avantor from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.69.

About Avantor

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.