Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 25,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,064,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AVNT. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in Avient by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 408,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,285,000 after acquiring an additional 32,394 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Avient by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,710,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Avient by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 25,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,058,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares during the period. LVZ Inc. increased its position in Avient by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 7,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Avient by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avient Price Performance

AVNT stock opened at $43.31 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Avient Co. has a 12 month low of $27.73 and a 12 month high of $43.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.77.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.87 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.257 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 124.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th.

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.