Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) Stock Has Average Target Price of $47.88

Shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.75.

AVNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Avient from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research cut shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Avient from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Avient from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Avient from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 5th.

Institutional Trading of Avient

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Avient during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $437,002,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Avient by 4.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,973,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,546,000 after acquiring an additional 192,788 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Avient by 2.7% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,012,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,355,000 after acquiring an additional 78,938 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 96.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,411,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,229,000 after acquiring an additional 691,316 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Avient during the second quarter worth approximately $45,933,000. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Avient Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Avient stock opened at $46.35 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.77. Avient has a 52-week low of $27.48 and a 52-week high of $49.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $891.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $857.49 million. Avient had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 5.27%. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Avient will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be issued a $0.2825 dividend. This represents a $1.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.2750. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is 56.41%.

About Avient

Avient Corporation is a global provider of specialty polymer materials, services and solutions. Its offerings include colorants, additives, specialty engineered compounds and other materials designed to enhance the performance, appearance or processing of plastics and other polymers. The company serves customers across industries such as packaging, healthcare, transportation, consumer products and construction.

Avient’s products include color and additive concentrates, specialty thermoplastic compounds, and high-performance materials, including advanced fibers and composites.