Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 318.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 50,824 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,683 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Avient were worth $2,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVNT. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avient during the first quarter worth $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Avient by 88.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avient during the first quarter valued at about $133,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Avient by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE:AVNT traded down $1.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $43.72. The company had a trading volume of 322,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,050. 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 1-year low of $27.73 and a 1-year high of $47.87. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $43.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.25. The firm has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of 39.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.47.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $850.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $841.40 million. Avient had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 3.37%. Avient’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Avient Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Avient’s payout ratio is 89.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th.

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.