The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 864,421 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,775 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.95% of Avient worth $43,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 81.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 58.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Avient in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 185.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE AVNT opened at $51.28 on Friday. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.87 and a fifty-two week high of $54.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.68 and a 200-day moving average of $46.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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 business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share 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 $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.