Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Short Interest Down 10.3% in March

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,050,000 shares, a decrease of 10.3% from the March 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 422,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Avient Stock Down 2.0 %

Avient stock opened at $41.28 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53. 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 has a twelve month low of $27.73 and a twelve month high of $43.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.39.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $711.87 million. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business’s revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Avient will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.257 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 124.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AVNT. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avient by 139.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Avient by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient by 248.2% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of Avient during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Avient by 123.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday.

About Avient

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.