Luminus Management LLC Takes Position in Avient Corporation $AVNT

Luminus Management LLC purchased a new stake in Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 46,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,530,000. Avient accounts for approximately 1.4% of Luminus Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Avient in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,767,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the 1st quarter valued at $37,160,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Avient by 100.4% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,125,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,839,000 after buying an additional 564,099 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Avient by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,348,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,576,000 after buying an additional 279,064 shares during the period. Finally, Scopus Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Avient during the second quarter worth about $8,908,000. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AVNT shares. Zacks Research raised Avient from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Avient in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Avient in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Avient in a report on Thursday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of AVNT opened at $30.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.84, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.46. Avient Corporation has a 12 month low of $27.48 and a 12 month high of $47.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Avient had a net margin of 3.49% and a return on equity of 10.75%. The firm had revenue of $806.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $823.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Avient has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.770-2.870 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 89.43%.

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.