Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 828 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,462 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 828 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Avient were worth $1,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Avient by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 29,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 5,546 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Avient by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Avient by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in Avient during the 1st quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Avient by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th.

Avient Trading Up 1.5 %

Avient stock opened at $41.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.57 and a 200-day moving average of $37.43. Avient Co. has a one year low of $27.73 and a one year high of $43.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted 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. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company had revenue of $719.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.257 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is 124.10%.

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.