Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Barclays

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) was upgraded by research analysts at Barclays to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

AVNT has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Avient from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Seaport Research Partners restated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of Avient in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Avient from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Avient from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.38.

Avient Stock Performance

AVNT opened at $38.79 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.45 and a 200-day moving average of $38.51. Avient has a 52-week low of $27.48 and a 52-week high of $46.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.07. Avient had a return on equity of 11.64% and a net margin of 5.10%. The business had revenue of $917.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $898.53 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Avient has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.250 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.800-0.800 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avient will post 3.20 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Avient

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Avient during the second quarter worth about $437,002,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Avient by 4.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,973,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,546,000 after acquiring an additional 192,788 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Avient by 2.7% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,012,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,355,000 after acquiring an additional 78,938 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Avient by 96.0% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,411,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,229,000 after acquiring an additional 691,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Avient in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,933,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

About Avient

Avient Corporation (NYSE: AVNT) is a global materials company that develops and manufactures specialized polymer products and solutions. Its portfolio includes engineered materials, specialty formulations, colorants, additives, inks, and other technologies designed to improve the performance, appearance, sustainability, and processing of plastics and other materials.

The company serves customers across a range of industries, including packaging, transportation, healthcare, consumer products, electronics, building and construction, and energy.