Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 345 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,125 shares of the company’s stock after selling 345 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Avient worth $2,292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Avient by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,360,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,754,000 after purchasing an additional 266,231 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avient by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,334,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,015,000 after purchasing an additional 176,273 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Avient by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,791,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,941,000 after purchasing an additional 31,535 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avient by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,938,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,060,000 after purchasing an additional 147,075 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Avient by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,968,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,527,000 after purchasing an additional 18,411 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Avient Price Performance

NYSE:AVNT opened at $41.28 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.44 and a 200-day moving average of $37.37. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.73, a PEG ratio of 0.93 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.82.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $719.00 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.257 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.10%.

Avient 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.