Raymond James & Associates Buys 749 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,048 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.05% of Avient worth $2,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Avient in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,313,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Avient by 6.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,802,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,502,000 after buying an additional 583,179 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Avient by 19,776.2% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 564,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,218,000 after purchasing an additional 561,248 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Avient by 24.6% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,754,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,224,000 after purchasing an additional 346,232 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in shares of Avient by 56.4% during the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 811,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,406,000 after purchasing an additional 292,658 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVNT opened at $41.77 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $27.73 and a twelve month high of $43.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.68 and its 200-day moving average is $37.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.33, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Avient had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 2.41%. The business had revenue of $719.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. Avient’s revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.257 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.10%.

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.