Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Price Target Increased to $52.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) had its price target raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $50.00 to $52.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on AVNT. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $46.20.

Avient Price Performance

NYSE AVNT opened at $45.12 on Wednesday. Avient has a 1 year low of $27.73 and a 1 year high of $47.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company had revenue of $829.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $818.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avient will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.257 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is presently 124.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Avient during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Avient by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $136,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Avient by 50,811.1% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 4,573 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in Avient in the 4th quarter valued at $191,000. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.