Oppenheimer Raises Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Price Target to $58.00

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) had its price objective increased by Oppenheimer from $53.00 to $58.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

Avient Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of AVNT stock opened at $50.94 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.30, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. Avient has a 52 week low of $27.73 and a 52 week high of $51.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.20.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $850.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $841.40 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.70% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Analysts predict that Avient will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.91%.

Institutional Trading of Avient

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Avient by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Avient by 88.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Avient in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Avient by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.