Bamco Inc. NY Sells 200,000 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Bamco Inc. NY trimmed its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 11.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,500,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 200,000 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY owned about 1.64% of Avient worth $75,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Avient by 81.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Avient by 88.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Avient by 58.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Avient during the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Avient by 185.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AVNT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Avient from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Avient from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avient has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of Avient stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total value of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.88% of the company's stock.

Avient Price Performance

AVNT traded up $0.35 during trading on Monday, hitting $51.60. 165,934 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 461,337. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.71. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.48. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $34.61 and a twelve month high of $54.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.02. Avient had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. This is an increase from Avient's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

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.