Analysts Set Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) Target Price at $43.60

Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.60.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avient in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on Avient in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock.

Institutional Trading of Avient

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Avient by 75.9% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 737 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Avient by 54.2% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 967 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Avient in the second quarter worth about $37,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Avient in the second quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Avient by 57.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE AVNT opened at $31.48 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.41. Avient has a 52 week low of $27.86 and a 52 week high of $54.68.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $866.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.98 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. Avient’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Avient will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 84.38%.

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.