Tidal Investments LLC Raises Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 15.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,592 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,261 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. State Street Corp increased its stake in Avient by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,231,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,977,000 after acquiring an additional 121,349 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 1.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,057,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,166,000 after purchasing an additional 65,452 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Avient by 3.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,936,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,818,000 after purchasing an additional 149,283 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Avient by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,174,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,431,000 after purchasing an additional 43,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Avient by 1.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,696,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,371,000 after purchasing an additional 17,976 shares during the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avient news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total value of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.06% of the company’s stock.

Avient Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AVNT opened at $41.50 on Friday. 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 $49.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.00. The company has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

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.