Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 597 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 92,619 shares of the company’s stock after selling 597 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.10% of Avient worth $4,660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVNT. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 81.6% during 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Avient by 88.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Avient by 58.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in Avient during the 2nd quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Avient by 185.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 948 shares during the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Avient Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE AVNT opened at $52.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Avient Co. has a one year low of $33.84 and a one year high of $54.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.38 and its 200-day moving average is $46.48. The firm has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The company 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 a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Avient’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of Avient stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total value of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Avient Company 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.