Raymond James & Associates Boosts Stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,484 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,013 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Avient were worth $2,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Avient in the third quarter valued at approximately $210,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 53.8% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 35.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 35,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after buying an additional 9,378 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 21.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AVNT shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avient has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

Avient Stock Up 3.3 %

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

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $797.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s payout ratio is 63.58%.

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.