Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Price Target to $39.00

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $39.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 27.97% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on AVNT. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Avient in a report on Friday, March 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Baird R W upgraded Avient to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avient presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.60.

Avient Trading Down 7.3 %

Shares of AVNT stock opened at $30.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.41. Avient has a 52-week low of $27.86 and a 52-week high of $54.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $39.52 and its 200 day moving average is $44.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.88.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. Avient had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 5.23%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Avient will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avient

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avient by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,313,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,424,000 after acquiring an additional 79,661 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Avient by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,231,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,977,000 after purchasing an additional 121,349 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,069,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,259,000 after purchasing an additional 90,535 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Avient by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,185,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,180,000 after buying an additional 276,357 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Avient by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,174,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,431,000 after buying an additional 43,249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

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.