Centiva Capital LP Takes Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 5,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AVNT. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Avient by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Avient by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 25,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Avient from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.50.

Avient Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of AVNT opened at $49.16 on Thursday. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $35.50 and a twelve month high of $54.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.97. The company has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.50.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.50 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. Avient’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avient

In other Avient news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.