Avior Wealth Management LLC Sells 531 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 39.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 832 shares of the company’s stock after selling 531 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $42,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Avient by 81.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Avient by 88.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Avient by 58.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Avient during the second quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 185.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AVNT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avient news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avient Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $53.17 on Tuesday. Avient Co. has a 52-week low of $33.84 and a 52-week high of $54.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.54. The firm has a market cap of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.48.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.50 million. Avient had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 63.58%.

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.