Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Increases Dividend to $0.27 Per Share

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 9th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.27 per share on Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26.

Avient has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Avient has a payout ratio of 34.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Avient to earn $3.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.03 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.1%.

Avient Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AVNT traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 453,174. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 37.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. Avient has a 12 month low of $27.73 and a 12 month high of $51.51. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.98.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.04. Avient had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 3.70%. The firm had revenue of $850.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $841.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Avient will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

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.