Russell Investments Group Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 160,351 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,719 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.18% of Avient worth $6,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Avient by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the 3rd quarter worth about $136,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in Avient during the 4th quarter worth approximately $191,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Avient in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in Avient during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $234,000. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AVNT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avient presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.20.

Avient Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE:AVNT opened at $45.12 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53. Avient Co. has a one year low of $27.73 and a one year high of $47.87. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.57.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Avient had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 2.41%. The company had revenue of $829.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $818.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. Avient’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a $0.257 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 124.10%.

Avient 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.