Covestor Ltd Increases Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 185.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,459 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 948 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Avient were worth $73,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Avient in the first quarter worth about $222,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Avient by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the 1st quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Avient by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 33,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 8,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Avient Price Performance

Avient stock opened at $51.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.48. Avient Co. has a 52-week low of $33.35 and a 52-week high of $54.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is 63.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avient

In related 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVNT. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. 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 boosted their target price on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Avient 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.