Victory Capital Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,522,503 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 62,022 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 1.66% of Avient worth $56,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Avient by 85.8% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,126 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Avient by 57.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Avient by 2,450.0% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,479 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,421 shares during the last quarter. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avient during the first quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Avient during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $90,000. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVNT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Avient from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.80.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVNT traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $33.00. The company had a trading volume of 318,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,474. Avient Corporation has a 52-week low of $27.86 and a 52-week high of $54.68. The company's 50 day moving average price is $35.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Avient had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 3.09%. The firm had revenue of $826.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $834.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Avient's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.93%.

Avient Company 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.