Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 3,835 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,216 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,835 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.10% of Avient worth $4,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Avient by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,368,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,035,000 after acquiring an additional 34,399 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,128,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,196,000 after buying an additional 36,742 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Avient by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,936,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,818,000 after buying an additional 149,283 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 82,010 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Avient by 28.8% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,470,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,813,000 after acquiring an additional 328,773 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVNT opened at $50.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.84, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.73 and a fifty-two week high of $51.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.52.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.04. Avient had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 3.70%. The company had revenue of $850.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $841.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Avient’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Avient’s payout ratio is 89.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th.

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.