Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Bought by Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 109.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 106,647 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,823 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Avient were worth $5,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in 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 last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avient in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 88.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 58.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Avient in the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avient presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Avient Stock Down 1.0 %

AVNT opened at $46.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Avient Co. has a 12 month low of $27.73 and a 12 month high of $51.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.71.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. Avient’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.