Avantor Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 48,044 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,025% compared to the typical volume of 4,270 put options.

Avantor Trading Down 13.5%

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $9.66 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $11.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.28. Avantor has a twelve month low of $8.90 and a twelve month high of $18.36.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 10.91% and a negative net margin of 1.25%.The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Avantor from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Evercore set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Avantor and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Avantor to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 350,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.09 per share, for a total transaction of $3,881,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,881,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Greenhaven Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Avantor during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $228,528,000. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in Avantor by 17.1% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,433,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,580,655,000 after acquiring an additional 17,170,761 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia purchased a new position in Avantor in the third quarter worth $159,669,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Avantor in the second quarter valued at $108,167,000. Finally, Engine Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the 2nd quarter worth $74,088,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on the headline numbers: adjusted EPS $0.22 vs. $0.21 consensus and revenue $1.66B vs. $1.64B; operating and free cash flow remained solid. This supports the view that core operations generated cash despite top-line pressure. PR Newswire Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Management commentary, slide deck and earnings call transcripts are available for details on the “revival program” (VWR relaunch, supply‑chain and e‑commerce improvements) and cost actions; these will be key to any recovery but are execution‑dependent. Earnings Call Transcript (Yahoo) Slide Deck (Seeking Alpha)
• Negative Sentiment: FY2026 EPS guidance of $0.770–$0.830 is below the Street consensus (~$0.90), signaling weaker near‑term profitability and prompting re‑rating risk. (Guidance disclosed with the results.)
• Negative Sentiment: Full‑year 2025 GAAP net loss of $530M (GAAP loss/shr $0.78) — a material profit swing — increases investor concern about earnings quality and near‑term recovery prospects. How the Profit Swing Impacts Investors (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Unusual bearish options flow: ~48,044 put contracts were bought (a >1,000% jump vs. average), signaling speculators are positioning for further downside.
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest rose sharply in January to ~37.7M shares (up ~25%), representing ~5.6% of float — higher short activity can exacerbate downward pressure on the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Organic revenue declined (~4% in Q4; full‑year organic down 3%), and net margin was negative — underlying demand softness and margin pressure remain headwinds. Key Metrics vs. Estimates (Zacks)

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.