Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys New Stake in Avient Corporation $AVNT

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 35,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,148,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 75.9% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Avient in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Avient in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Avient by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Avient in the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of Avient stock opened at $32.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. Avient Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.86 and a 1 year high of $54.68.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 85.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AVNT. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avient in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Avient in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.60.

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.