Cim Investment Management Inc. Lowers Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Cim Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 19.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,186 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,470 shares during the period. Cim Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Avient were worth $270,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avient during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Avient by 88.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Avient in the second quarter valued at about $59,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avient during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $119,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $133,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of AVNT opened at $50.40 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.49. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.83, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. Avient Co. has a 12-month low of $27.73 and a 12-month high of $51.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.57%.

Avient 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.