B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Invests $3.54 Million in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 70,260 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,535,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG owned 0.08% of Avient at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Avient during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,520,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 318.6% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 50,824 shares of the company's stock worth $2,218,000 after buying an additional 38,683 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Avient by 114.6% during the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 241,893 shares of the company's stock worth $10,559,000 after buying an additional 129,171 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Avient by 39.4% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 155,763 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,799,000 after buying an additional 44,026 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the second quarter valued at about $2,901,000. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Avient

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.88% of the company's stock.

Avient Price Performance

NYSE AVNT opened at $49.82 on Thursday. Avient Co. has a 12-month low of $33.84 and a 12-month high of $54.68. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $49.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. This is a boost from Avient's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient's payout ratio is currently 63.58%.

Avient 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.