Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Reaches New 52-Week High at $44.14

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $44.14 and last traded at $44.07, with a volume of 228878 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th.

Avient Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.82. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.27.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $711.87 million. Avient had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 2.41%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.257 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 124.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Avient by 5.2% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,662,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,169,000 after buying an additional 82,010 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avient by 1.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 345,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,015,000 after purchasing an additional 5,585 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avient by 29.3% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 528,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,920,000 after purchasing an additional 119,562 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Avient by 2.3% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 26,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

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.