Analysts Set Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Target Price at $55.50

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.50.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn cut Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Avient from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avient news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of Avient stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Avient by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Avient by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Avient by 81.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 44.9% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient by 58.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $39.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.50. Avient has a 52-week low of $35.50 and a 52-week high of $54.68. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.74. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.02. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. The firm had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $797.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Avient’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Avient will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase 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 2.75%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

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.