nVerses Capital LLC Buys 1,400 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC’s holdings in Avient were worth $201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Avient by 3.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Avient by 35.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Avient by 21.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avient has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.50.

Avient Price Performance

Avient stock opened at $50.35 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.31. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $27.73 and a 52 week high of $51.51. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.78, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.91%.

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.