Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,868 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,088 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $1,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AVNT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Avient by 6.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 54,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Avient by 2.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Avient by 88.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Avient by 8.0% in the second quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 1,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 21.1% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research 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, Avient has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

Avient Price Performance

AVNT stock opened at $51.34 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Avient Co. has a 12-month low of $34.61 and a 12-month high of $54.68. The company has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.84 and a 200-day moving average of $46.75.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. 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 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 63.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avient news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of Avient stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.06% 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.