Jennison Associates LLC Has $65.72 Million Stock Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,580,867 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 215,709 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 1.73% of Avient worth $65,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AVNT. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Avient by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Avient by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 24,634 shares of the company's stock valued at $870,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Avient by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,390 shares of the company's stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Avient by 139.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in Avient by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 21,824 shares of the company's stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th.

Avient Price Performance

NYSE AVNT traded up $0.37 on Tuesday, hitting $43.31. The company had a trading volume of 372,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,601. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 51.75, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.53. The company's fifty day moving average price is $41.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Avient Co. has a 12-month low of $27.73 and a 12-month high of $43.97.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $719.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $711.87 million. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The firm's revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.257 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Avient's payout ratio is 124.10%.

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.