New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Stock Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 146,270 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,011 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Avient were worth $6,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Avient by 22.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 29,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,437,000 after buying an additional 5,546 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Avient by 2.2% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Avient by 3.5% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in Avient during the first quarter worth $110,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Avient by 9.4% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Stock Performance

AVNT opened at $41.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.75, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.53. Avient Co. has a 52-week low of $27.73 and a 52-week high of $43.97. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.35.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.87 million. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company’s revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.257 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s payout ratio is 124.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday.

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.