nVerses Capital LLC Sells 1,700 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

nVerses Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 39.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. nVerses Capital LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AVNT. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Avient by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 160,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,666,000 after purchasing an additional 10,719 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Avient by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 41,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 9,177 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in Avient by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 52,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Avient by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,093,000 after purchasing an additional 23,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Avient by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,438,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,937,000 after purchasing an additional 384,452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AVNT opened at $49.13 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $44.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.55. Avient Co. has a 1 year low of $27.73 and a 1 year high of $49.47. The company has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 42.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $850.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $841.40 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.70% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th.

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.