The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 864,421 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,775 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Avient were worth $43,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AVNT. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Avient by 81.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 88.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 58.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the second quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 185.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avient

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Avient Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $51.28 on Friday. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $33.87 and a twelve month high of $54.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.65, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. The business had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

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.