Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Acquired by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,484 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.06% of Avient worth $2,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Avient by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Avient by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Avient by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Avient by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Avient by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AVNT. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avient has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

Avient Trading Up 3.3 %

AVNT opened at $48.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.48. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $31.45 and a 52 week high of $51.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $48.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.02. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. The company had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.58%.

Avient Profile

Avient Corporation operates as a formulator of material solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia. It operates in two segments, Color, Additives and Inks; and Specialty Engineered Materials. The Color, Additives and Inks segment offers custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, and specialty inks; custom-formulated liquid system, such as polyester, vinyl, natural rubber and latex, polyurethane, and silicone; and proprietary inks.