Bailard Inc. Acquires New Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Bailard Inc. bought a new position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AVNT. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avient by 14.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,819,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,275,000 after purchasing an additional 224,810 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Avient by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,580,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,717,000 after buying an additional 215,709 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its position in Avient by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 737,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,051,000 after buying an additional 180,330 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Avient by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,334,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,015,000 after acquiring an additional 176,273 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 637,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,523,000 after acquiring an additional 108,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AVNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVNT opened at $43.22 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.07, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.97. Avient Co. has a 12 month low of $27.73 and a 12 month high of $43.97.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.257 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 124.10%.

Avient Company 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.