UMB Bank n.a. Boosts Stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 81.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 663 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Avient were worth $33,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVNT. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Avient by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 319,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,283,000 after buying an additional 19,375 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Avient by 0.3% during 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 during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Avient during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $390,000. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Avient by 0.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,128,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,196,000 after buying an additional 36,742 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Price Performance

NYSE:AVNT opened at $49.93 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $27.73 and a 52 week high of $51.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $47.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 43.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $850.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $841.40 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 3.70%. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AVNT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday.

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.