Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Bought by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT – Get Rating) by 9.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,207,249 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 107,307 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Avient were worth $36,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Avient by 22.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 29,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 5,546 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Avient by 2.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Avient by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Avient during the 1st quarter worth $110,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Avient by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AVNT shares. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Avient from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Avient from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Avient from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Avient from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Avient from $41.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avient presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.00.

Avient Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $38.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.65 and a fifty-two week high of $54.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.51.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $790.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.04 million. Avient had a return on equity of 14.02% and a net margin of 16.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 14th will be issued a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 13th. Avient’s payout ratio is presently 12.86%.

Avient Company Profile

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Avient Corp. engages in the business of thermoplastic compounds. It specializes in polymer materials, services, and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, plastic sheet and packaging solutions and polymer distribution. The firm is also involved in the development and manufacturing of performance enhancing additives, liquid colorants, fluoropolymers, and silicone colorants.