Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Has $204.17 Million Stock Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,057,356 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,452 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $204,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 88.6% in 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 acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avient Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE AVNT traded down $0.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $50.35. The stock had a trading volume of 553,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,986. Avient Co. has a 12 month low of $27.73 and a 12 month high of $51.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 43.78, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.31.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The company 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 a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avient has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

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.