Channing Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,099,894 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 131,406 shares during the quarter. Avient comprises approximately 2.6% of Channing Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Channing Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.30% of Avient worth $87,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVNT. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Avient by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Avient in the 3rd quarter valued at about $136,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Avient during the 4th quarter valued at about $191,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Avient during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Avient in the 4th quarter worth approximately $234,000. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th.

Avient Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AVNT stock traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $44.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 305,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 557,661. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Avient Co. has a one year low of $27.73 and a one year high of $44.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.30.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $711.87 million. Avient had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.257 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.10%.

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.