Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Purchases 368 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,653 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.12% of Avient worth $4,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Avient by 139.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Avient by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Avient during the 3rd quarter worth about $136,000. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Avient during the 3rd quarter worth about $165,000. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in Avient during the 4th quarter worth about $191,000. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVNT opened at $43.25 on Thursday. The stock 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.35 and a 200-day moving average of $37.81. 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 fifty-two week low of $27.73 and a fifty-two week high of $43.97.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. Avient had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 2.41%. The company had revenue of $719.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $711.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Avient’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.257 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.10%.

Avient 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.