Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Increases Stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,522,656 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 63,138 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 1.67% of Avient worth $76,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Avient by 81.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Avient by 88.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Avient during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in Avient by 185.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company's stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company's stock.

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE:AVNT traded up $1.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.28. The stock had a trading volume of 416,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,404. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.48. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $33.84 and a twelve month high of $54.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from Avient's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.