State Street Corp Buys 121,349 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,231,720 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 121,349 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 4.63% of Avient worth $213,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Avient by 21.1% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,660 shares of the company's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Avient by 17.4% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,570 shares of the company's stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Avient in the second quarter valued at $15,520,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Avient by 783.8% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,777 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Avient by 4.9% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 49,471 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AVNT shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Avient from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Avient from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.50.

Insider Activity at Avient

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Avient Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Avient stock traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $48.52. The company had a trading volume of 100,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,370. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.50 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.97. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.50.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $797.50 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.66 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 8th. Stockholders 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 2.23%. Avient's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

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.