Sei Investments Co. Buys 44,026 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 39.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 155,763 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,026 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Avient were worth $6,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVNT. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Avient by 50,811.1% during the fourth 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. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its position in shares of Avient by 74.4% during the fourth quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 17,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 7,443 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Avient by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,101,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,784,000 after purchasing an additional 75,715 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its position in shares of Avient by 17,378.2% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 482,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,053,000 after purchasing an additional 479,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of Avient by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 385,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,006,000 after purchasing an additional 9,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th.

Avient Stock Performance

NYSE AVNT opened at $50.41 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 43.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Avient Co. has a 1-year low of $27.73 and a 1-year high of $51.51.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $850.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $841.40 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 3.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.2575 dividend. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Avient’s payout ratio is 89.57%.

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.