Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 1,237,113 Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,237,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,548,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AVNT. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Avient by 120.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,460,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,675,000 after purchasing an additional 797,112 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Avient during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,344,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Avient by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 790,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,283,000 after acquiring an additional 181,476 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Avient by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,825,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,581,000 after acquiring an additional 128,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Avient by 3.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,231,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,977,000 after acquiring an additional 121,349 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Baird R W raised Avient to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Avient from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on Avient in a report on Friday, March 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.80.

Avient Stock Down 6.3 %

AVNT stock opened at $30.44 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.01 and a 200 day moving average of $44.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.41. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $28.96 and a twelve month high of $54.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Avient had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 5.23%. On average, research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.02%.

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.