Norges Bank Acquires New Stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) (2024)

Posted by ABMN Staff on May 31st, 2024

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 977,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,628,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.07% of Avient at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AVNT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avient by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,334,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,015,000 after purchasing an additional 176,273 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Avient by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,438,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,937,000 after purchasing an additional 384,452 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 2,099,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,293,000 after purchasing an additional 131,406 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avient by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,819,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,275,000 after purchasing an additional 224,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,580,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,717,000 after purchasing an additional 215,709 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVNT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

View Our Latest Report on AVNT

Avient Price Performance

Avient stock opened at $44.20 on Friday. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $27.73 and a 52 week high of $47.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 38.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Avient had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The business had revenue of $829.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $818.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Avient Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 21st will be paid a $0.257 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 21st. Avient’s payout ratio is 89.57%.

About Avient

(Free Report)

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.

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