Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Acquires New Position in Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in Avient in the first quarter valued at about $278,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Avient by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,522,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,576,000 after buying an additional 62,022 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Avient by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,209,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,938,000 after acquiring an additional 204,554 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avient in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its stake in Avient by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 65,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,447,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Avient Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:AVNT opened at $33.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.38. Avient Corporation has a 12 month low of $27.86 and a 12 month high of $54.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $866.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $852.98 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 3.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Avient from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Avient from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Avient presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.60.

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.