Jennison Associates LLC Has $85.37 Million Holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,696,565 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,976 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 1.86% of Avient worth $85,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Avient by 81.6% in the third 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. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 88.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Avient by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Avient in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Avient by 185.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AVNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.50.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of Avient stock opened at $49.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $49.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.39. Avient Co. has a 1-year low of $33.84 and a 1-year high of $54.68.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $815.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avient

In other news, SVP Joel R. Rathbun sold 5,762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.45, for a total transaction of $296,454.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.06% of the company’s stock.

Avient 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.