Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Short Interest Up 8.8% in September

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,110,000 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the September 15th total of 1,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 462,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avient

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in Avient by 53.8% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in Avient by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 35,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,789,000 after buying an additional 9,378 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Avient by 21.5% during 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. Finally, Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in Avient in the 3rd quarter valued at about $565,000. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of AVNT stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $51.28. The company had a trading volume of 434,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,133. Avient has a 12 month low of $27.73 and a 12 month high of $51.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $47.72 and its 200 day moving average is $45.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.30, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. Avient had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 3.70%. The firm had revenue of $850.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $841.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avient will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors 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 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.91%.

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.