Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Buys 158,163 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 13.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,359,671 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 158,163 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings in Avient were worth $59,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Avient during the first quarter valued at $35,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Avient by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Avient by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Avient by 50,811.1% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 4,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Avient in the 4th quarter worth about $191,000. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE:AVNT traded down $0.98 on Friday, hitting $44.51. The stock had a trading volume of 519,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 533,879. The stock has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.64. Avient Co. has a 52-week low of $27.73 and a 52-week high of $47.87.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $829.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $818.45 million. Avient had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 3.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Avient’s payout ratio is presently 89.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVNT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

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.