Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Purchases 63,138 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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 reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AVNT. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Avient by 81.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Avient by 88.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Avient by 58.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the second quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 185.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVNT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. 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 cut Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.50.

Avient Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $52.28 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.47. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $33.84 and a 12-month high of $54.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its earnings results 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. 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Avient’s payout ratio is 66.67%.

Insider Activity at Avient

In related news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.