Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

AVNT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Avient in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avient in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Avient in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE:AVNT traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $29.70. The stock had a trading volume of 840,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 650,901. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.40. Avient has a 12-month low of $27.86 and a 12-month high of $53.61.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $806.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $823.57 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. Avient has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.770-2.870 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Avient will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Avient

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Avient by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 868,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,603,000 after acquiring an additional 42,118 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 15.5% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 60,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 8,057 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Avient by 8.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 27,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Avient by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 329,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avient during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $287,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

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.