Trust Point Inc. Takes $210,000 Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Trust Point Inc. bought a new position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Avient by 81.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Avient during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Avient by 88.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in Avient during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Avient by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. 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.com, Avient presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

Avient Price Performance

AVNT opened at $50.35 on Friday. Avient Co. has a 12-month low of $27.73 and a 12-month high of $51.51. The company has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.31.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $850.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $841.40 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.70% and a return on equity of 10.34%. Avient’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. Research analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.91%.

About Avient

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.