Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Boosts Holdings in Avient Corporation $AVNT

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) by 19.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,795 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Avient were worth $607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Avient by 24.6% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 97,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,618,000 after purchasing an additional 19,223 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Avient in the first quarter valued at $7,804,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Avient in the first quarter valued at about $230,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Avient during the first quarter worth about $37,160,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avient during the first quarter worth about $50,471,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on AVNT shares. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Avient in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research cut Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Avient in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Avient in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.50.

Avient Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:AVNT opened at $30.59 on Friday. Avient Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.48 and a 1 year high of $51.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.90, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.48.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $806.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $823.57 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Avient has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.770-2.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 89.43%.

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.