Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Purchased by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 73,237 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,902 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Avient were worth $3,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVNT. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avient by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,819,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,275,000 after purchasing an additional 224,810 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,580,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,717,000 after purchasing an additional 215,709 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 737,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,051,000 after purchasing an additional 180,330 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avient by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,334,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,015,000 after purchasing an additional 176,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avient by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 637,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,523,000 after purchasing an additional 108,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVNT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

Avient Stock Performance

AVNT stock opened at $43.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.95. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $27.73 and a 52 week high of $43.97.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $719.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $711.87 million. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.257 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio 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.