Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,615 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,581 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Avient worth $2,698,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Avient by 81.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Avient by 88.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the second quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Avient by 185.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avient news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total value of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of Avient stock opened at $52.28 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $49.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.48. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $33.84 and a twelve month high of $54.68.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.02. Avient had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. Avient’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

About Avient

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.