Hantz Financial Services Inc. Grows Position in Avient Corporation $AVNT

Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 73,798 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,429 shares during the quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Avient were worth $2,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Avient by 75.9% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Avient during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Avient during the second quarter valued at about $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avient by 57.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Avient in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AVNT. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avient in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Avient in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.60.

Avient Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of AVNT opened at $32.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Avient Corporation has a 1-year low of $27.86 and a 1-year high of $54.68.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $866.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $852.98 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. Avient’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Avient’s payout ratio is 85.94%.

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.