Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Bought by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 220.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 94,063 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 64,665 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.10% of Avient worth $4,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,057,356 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,166,000 after acquiring an additional 65,452 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Avient by 3.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,936,318 shares of the company's stock valued at $171,818,000 after purchasing an additional 149,283 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Avient by 1.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,696,565 shares of the company's stock worth $85,371,000 after acquiring an additional 17,976 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Avient by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,243,128 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,554,000 after purchasing an additional 9,893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Avient by 0.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 871,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,028,000 after acquiring an additional 6,881 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company's stock.

Avient Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:AVNT traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $51.34. The company had a trading volume of 363,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,013. Avient Co. has a 1 year low of $34.61 and a 1 year high of $54.68. The company has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.84 and a 200 day moving average of $46.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Avient's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Avient's payout ratio is 63.58%.

Insider Transactions at Avient

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.