Northern Trust Corp Sells 37,083 Shares of Avient Corporation $AVNT

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp has reduced its stake in Avient Corporation by 3.1%, bringing its ownership to approximately 1.27% valued at about $43 million.
• Avient plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share on October 8th, translating to an annualized rate of $1.08 and a yield of 2.9%.
• Recent earnings reported a net margin of 3.65% and a quarterly revenue of $866.5 million, beating estimates, with guidance for FY 2025 earnings projected between $2.770 and $2.870 per share.

Northern Trust Corp lessened its stake in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,159,987 shares of the company's stock after selling 37,083 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.27% of Avient worth $43,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVNT. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 61.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 328,706 shares of the company's stock worth $12,215,000 after buying an additional 124,510 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Avient by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,348,157 shares of the company's stock worth $161,576,000 after acquiring an additional 279,064 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc. raised its stake in Avient by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 36,200 shares of the company's stock worth $1,345,000 after acquiring an additional 6,950 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Avient during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,471,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Avient by 77.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,636 shares of the company's stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Avient from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Avient from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $45.60.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of Avient stock traded down $0.10 on Wednesday, hitting $36.54. 415,637 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 613,437. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.90. Avient Corporation has a 52 week low of $27.86 and a 52 week high of $54.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.40. 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 (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $866.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $852.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Avient's quarterly revenue 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. Research analysts expect that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Avient's payout ratio is currently 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.