Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) SVP Sells $296,454.90 in Stock

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of Avient stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Avient Price Performance

AVNT opened at $51.18 on Friday. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.64 and a fifty-two week high of $54.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.76 and a 200 day moving average of $46.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s payout ratio is 63.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avient

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Avient in the first quarter worth $222,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 79,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Avient by 3.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Avient during the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Avient in the first quarter worth about $219,000. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AVNT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

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.