Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 797,112 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 120.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,460,481 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 797,112 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Avient were worth $59,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avient by 56.2% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Avient by 44.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the 3rd quarter valued at about $60,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Avient by 185.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AVNT. Seaport Res Ptn raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Avient from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Avient currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Avient Stock Down 1.7 %

AVNT opened at $41.87 on Friday. Avient Co. has a 1-year low of $37.63 and a 1-year high of $54.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.43.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Avient had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 5.23%. As a group, research analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.02%.

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.