Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Price Target Lowered to $55.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $55.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on AVNT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVNT opened at $43.02 on Friday. Avient has a 1-year low of $37.63 and a 1-year high of $54.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $42.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.51.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Avient had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 4.66%. On average, research analysts expect that Avient will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Avient by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,313,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,424,000 after buying an additional 79,661 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avient by 3.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,231,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,977,000 after buying an additional 121,349 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Avient by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,069,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,259,000 after buying an additional 90,535 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Avient by 1.6% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,057,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,166,000 after buying an additional 65,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Avient by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,185,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,180,000 after buying an additional 276,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

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.