Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Has $2.53 Million Position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. reduced its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,226 shares of the company’s stock after selling 342 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Avient worth $2,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Avient in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Avient by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Avient by 50,811.1% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 4,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in Avient during the 4th quarter valued at about $191,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avient Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AVNT stock traded up $0.21 on Tuesday, reaching $45.78. 336,304 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 456,038. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Avient Co. has a one year low of $27.73 and a one year high of $47.87. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.71.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $829.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $818.45 million. Avient had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 3.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AVNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avient has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

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.