Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Sold by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 290,011 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,300 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.32% of Avient worth $14,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Avient by 81.6% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Avient during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 boosted its stake in Avient by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in Avient during the 2nd quarter worth $59,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Trading Down 1.0 %

AVNT traded down $0.47 on Friday, hitting $46.14. The company had a trading volume of 683,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 459,080. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.33, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. Avient Co. has a 1 year low of $27.73 and a 1 year high of $51.51. The company's fifty day moving average price is $48.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.50 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.70% and a return on equity of 10.34%. Avient's revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.64 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 dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Avient's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Avient's dividend payout ratio is 81.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.