Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.80.

AVNT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Avient in a research note on Friday, March 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Baird R W raised shares of Avient to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Avient from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avient

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Avient by 56.2% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Avient by 44.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Avient in the third quarter valued at $60,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Avient in the fourth quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Avient in the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE AVNT opened at $38.43 on Monday. Avient has a 1 year low of $37.49 and a 1 year high of $54.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.56.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. Avient had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 10.44%. As a group, research analysts expect that Avient will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.02%.

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.