nVerses Capital LLC Trims Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

nVerses Capital LLC trimmed its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 39.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Avient by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,368,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,035,000 after purchasing an additional 34,399 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,128,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,196,000 after acquiring an additional 36,742 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,724,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,821,000 after acquiring an additional 381,610 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,438,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,937,000 after acquiring an additional 384,452 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,662,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,169,000 after acquiring an additional 82,010 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE AVNT opened at $49.13 on Tuesday. Avient Co. has a one year low of $27.73 and a one year high of $49.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $44.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.72, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.47.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.04. Avient had a net margin of 3.70% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $850.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $841.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. Avient’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.2575 dividend. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th.

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.