ProShare Advisors LLC Acquires 8,711 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 183,935 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,711 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Avient worth $7,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Avient during the fourth quarter valued at about $494,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Avient by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,332,275 shares of the company's stock worth $54,437,000 after purchasing an additional 165,322 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Avient by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 51,419 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Avient by 53.2% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 40,824 shares of the company's stock worth $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 14,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Luminus Management LLC purchased a new position in Avient in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,892,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AVNT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Baird R W raised shares of Avient to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Avient from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Avient in a report on Friday, March 14th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.80.

Avient Price Performance

AVNT stock traded down $0.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $35.74. 88,218 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 549,497. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $27.86 and a 52 week high of $54.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.88.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $826.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $834.90 million. Avient had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The business's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. Avient's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.93%.

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.