Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Short Interest Down 9.7% in June

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,020,000 shares, a drop of 9.7% from the May 31st total of 1,130,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 440,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avient

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVNT. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 2.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Avient by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Avient by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 52,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake 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 buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in Avient by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AVNT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.20.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of AVNT traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $42.59. 223,418 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 454,008. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $44.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.41. Avient has a 12-month low of $27.73 and a 12-month high of $47.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $829.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $818.45 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Avient will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.257 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 21st. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.57%.

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.