Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Sold by Texas Permanent School Fund

Texas Permanent School Fund lowered its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT – Get Rating) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 57,401 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,078 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund’s holdings in Avient were worth $1,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. South Dakota Investment Council grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 80.9% in the fourth quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 19,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Avient by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 347,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,735,000 after acquiring an additional 48,709 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Avient by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 295,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,975,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Ellevest Inc. grew its holdings in Avient by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 1,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Avient during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,357,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Avient Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $38.63 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.37. Avient Co. has a 12-month low of $27.65 and a 12-month high of $52.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.51 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.08. Avient had a net margin of 16.98% and a return on equity of 11.50%. The business had revenue of $845.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $843.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 14th were given a $0.248 dividend. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 13th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is 14.12%.

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.