Brokerages Set Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) Price Target at $43.60

Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.60.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AVNT shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Avient in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avient in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avient

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Avient by 6.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,348,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,576,000 after purchasing an additional 279,064 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,118,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,871,000 after buying an additional 260,670 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Avient by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,252,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,797,000 after buying an additional 19,813 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Avient by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,760,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,870,000 after buying an additional 81,393 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Avient by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,729,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,001,000 after buying an additional 376,667 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVNT opened at $32.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.08 and its 200 day moving average is $34.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. Avient has a fifty-two week low of $27.86 and a fifty-two week high of $54.68.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $866.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.98 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Avient will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.94%.

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.