Analysts Set Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) PT at $42.50

Shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.50.

AVNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Avient in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Avient in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Avient in a report on Thursday, November 6th.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of Avient stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.59. 197,172 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 656,814. The stock has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.90, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Avient has a 52 week low of $27.48 and a 52 week high of $51.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $31.25 and its 200-day moving average is $33.86.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Avient had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 3.65%.The business had revenue of $806.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $823.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. Avient’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 expect that Avient will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avient

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Avient by 45.2% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the first quarter worth about $230,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avient by 23.2% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 14,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 2,734 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Avient by 129.7% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 7,295 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Avient by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 65,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

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.