State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Stock Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its holdings in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 41.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,521 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,716 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Avient were worth $1,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AVNT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $431,035,000 after acquiring an additional 34,399 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 0.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 36,742 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Avient by 5.2% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,662,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,169,000 after purchasing an additional 82,010 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 328,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of Avient by 13.2% in the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,359,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,010,000 after buying an additional 158,163 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Avient Stock Performance

Avient stock opened at $48.10 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $46.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 41.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.47. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $27.73 and a twelve month high of $49.47.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.57%.

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.