Russell Investments Group Ltd. Reduces Position in Avient Corporation $AVNT

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in Avient Corporation by 7.0% in the first quarter, now holding approximately 0.11% of the company worth $3.67 million.
• Avient's share price has seen recent fluctuations, with prices reaching $37.49 and a market cap of $3.43 billion, while analysts have adjusted price targets with an average forecast of $45.60.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, representing a dividend yield of 2.9%, with a payout ratio of 84.38%.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 7.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 98,677 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,434 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.11% of Avient worth $3,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 969,159 shares of the company's stock worth $36,014,000 after acquiring an additional 15,737 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Avient in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,645 shares of the company's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 443 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Avient during the 1st quarter valued at $50,471,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Avient from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Avient from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.60.

Avient Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE AVNT traded up $0.15 on Friday, hitting $37.38. The stock had a trading volume of 507,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 730,323. The business's fifty day moving average price is $34.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Avient Corporation has a 52-week low of $27.86 and a 52-week high of $54.68. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.38.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $866.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Avient has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.700-0.700 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 2.770-2.870 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Avient's payout ratio is 84.38%.

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.