Raymond James & Associates Has $2.16 Million Stock Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,471 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,311 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.05% of Avient worth $2,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AVNT. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Avient in the first quarter worth $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Avient by 88.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Avient in the first quarter worth $133,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Avient by 11.2% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Avient by 50,811.1% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 4,573 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE:AVNT opened at $49.13 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.94 and its 200-day moving average is $43.55. Avient Co. has a 1-year low of $27.73 and a 1-year high of $49.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.47.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $841.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th.

Avient Company 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.