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

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 94,708 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,582% compared to the average volume of 5,630 put options.

Avantor Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $8.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.49, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.97. Avantor has a one year low of $8.14 and a one year high of $18.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.09% and a positive return on equity of 10.45%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $940,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,000. The trade was a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier acquired 50,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.16 per share, for a total transaction of $458,000.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $458,000. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Avantor by 104.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 203,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,302,000 after buying an additional 104,022 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 40.3% in the first 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 during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 11.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 757,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,190,000 after acquiring an additional 74,731 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 4.0% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 103,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the second quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Citigroup cut their target price on Avantor from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Avantor from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $8.50 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.80.

More Avantor News

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $8.50 price target (small upside relative to the current price), signaling limited near-term upside and continued cautious analyst positioning. Barclays Reaffirmation
• Neutral Sentiment: A recent Yahoo Finance piece outlines how analysts are resetting fair-value targets for Avantor, documenting the shift in analyst views but not pointing to an immediate positive catalyst. How The Avantor Story Is Shifting
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option volume: investors bought ~94,708 puts (up ~1,582% vs. typical), indicating significant bearish positioning or hedging activity that can amplify downside volatility.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research issued a wave of cuts to quarterly and full-year EPS estimates, downgraded multiple forward-quarter forecasts and assigned AVTR a “Strong Sell” / Zacks Rank #5 — a material negative read on near-term fundamentals and sentiment. Zacks Adds AVTR to Strong Sell List

About Avantor

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.