Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Boosts Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 109.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,647 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,823 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned about 0.12% of Avient worth $5,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of Avient by 2.7% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 22,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $973,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Avient during the first quarter worth $222,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient by 5.2% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,662,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,169,000 after buying an additional 82,010 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in shares of Avient by 1.5% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 79,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,463,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avient by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of Avient stock opened at $46.14 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.63. Avient Co. has a one year low of $27.73 and a one year high of $51.51. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.48.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. Avient had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

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.