Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 663,369 shares of the company’s stock after selling 85,306 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.73% of Avient worth $33,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Avient by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Avient in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Avient by 88.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Avient by 58.7% during 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. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Avient

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVNT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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 report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avient presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of AVNT opened at $50.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.48. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.64 and a fifty-two week high of $54.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Avient 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.