New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 975,942 shares of the company’s stock after selling 107,853 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Avient were worth $40,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVNT. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Avient by 139.5% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings 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. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Avient during the 3rd quarter valued at $136,000. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Avient during the 3rd quarter valued at $165,000. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Avient during the 4th quarter valued at $191,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

Avient Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE AVNT opened at $43.25 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.81. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $27.73 and a twelve month high of $43.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.11, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Avient had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 2.41%. The business had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.257 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.