Bailard Inc. Makes New $307,000 Investment in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 7,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVNT. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Avient by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Avient by 1.4% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 24,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $870,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Avient by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Avient by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 113,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,725,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Avient by 3.3% during the third quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th.

Avient Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $43.22 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.97. Avient Co. has a 52-week low of $27.73 and a 52-week high of $43.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 52.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $711.87 million. Avient had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 2.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.257 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.10%.

Avient Company 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.