Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) SVP Joel R. Rathbun Sells 5,762 Shares

Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Avient Price Performance

NYSE:AVNT opened at $51.53 on Thursday. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $33.35 and a 52 week high of $54.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. Avient had a net margin of 4.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.50 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Avient’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avient

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the 1st quarter worth approximately $222,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in shares of Avient by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 79,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avient by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the 1st quarter worth $219,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AVNT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.50.

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.