Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Avient Corporation $AVNT

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its stake in Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) by 9.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 301,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,050 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.33% of Avient worth $9,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Avient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,471,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Avient in the second quarter worth approximately $36,767,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the first quarter worth approximately $37,160,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Avient by 100.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,125,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,839,000 after purchasing an additional 564,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Avient by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,348,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,576,000 after purchasing an additional 279,064 shares during the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AVNT shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Avient in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Avient in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Avient in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Avient has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.50.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of AVNT stock opened at $30.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $31.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.86. Avient Corporation has a 12 month low of $27.48 and a 12 month high of $51.76.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $806.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $823.57 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Avient has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.770-2.870 EPS. Analysts predict that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $0.275 dividend. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.43%.

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.