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

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 48,044 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,025% compared to the average daily volume of 4,270 put options.

Key Avantor News

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly beat on key consensus figures: Q4 revenue of $1.66B and adjusted EPS of $0.22 topped analyst estimates, and adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow remained positive — supportive for near‑term fundamentals. Avantor Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management outlined a “revival” program (VWR relaunch, supply‑chain/manufacturing fixes, e‑commerce upgrades) that, if executed, could improve margins and organic growth over time. Avantor Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Company released the Q4 earnings slide deck and full earnings-call transcript — useful for investors to assess cadence, guidance color and cost actions. 2025 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst writeups (Zacks, MSN) provide quick metric comparisons and context on the quarter’s beats vs. year‑ago declines — helpful but not new company guidance. AVTR Q4 Earnings: Key Metrics vs Estimates Avantor reports Q4: Everything you need to know
• Negative Sentiment: Large bearish derivatives flow: unusually heavy put buying (48,044 put contracts) signals traders are positioning for further downside or volatility. (Reported activity on earnings day.)
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest rose sharply in January (~25% increase to ~37.7M shares, ~5.6% of float), intensifying downward pressure and raising the risk of continued pessimism.
• Negative Sentiment: Underlying operational/headline negatives: full‑year GAAP net loss and a one‑year organic sales decline (~3–4%), plus a negative net margin — these factors temper enthusiasm despite the quarter’s beat. Avantor Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 350,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.09 per share, for a total transaction of $3,881,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,881,500. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in Avantor by 9.2% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 44,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $597,000 after acquiring an additional 959 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 38,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on AVTR shares. UBS Group set a $12.00 price target on Avantor in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore set a $12.00 price target on Avantor and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Avantor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.60.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR traded down $1.80 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,199,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,166,149. The company has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $11.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.30. Avantor has a 52-week low of $8.90 and a 52-week high of $18.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.49.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.