Avient (NYSE:AVNT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $815.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.50 million. Avient had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 3.70%. Avient’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of AVNT stock traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.14. 683,143 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 459,080. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.68. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. Avient has a 12-month low of $27.73 and a 12-month high of $51.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

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 dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Avient’s payout ratio is currently 81.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AVNT. Seaport Res Ptn cut Avient from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Avient from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Avient from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities 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.com, Avient has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

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.