Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Avantor (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 25,142 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,067% compared to the average volume of 2,155 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Avantor in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $10.50 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Avantor in a report on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group set a $8.00 price objective on Avantor in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Avantor to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, Director Simon Dingemans purchased 25,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.14 per share, with a total value of $203,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,500. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $499,200. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Avantor by 104.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 203,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,302,000 after buying an additional 104,022 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 40.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 40,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,543 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor in the second quarter valued at about $232,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Avantor by 214.9% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 124,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 84,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $10.67. 5,932,218 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,431,110. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.41. Avantor has a one year low of $7.26 and a one year high of $15.93. The company has a market cap of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Avantor will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Avantor Company Profile

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.