Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Sold by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. cut its position in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 24.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 378,669 shares of the company’s stock after selling 121,412 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned about 0.42% of Avient worth $15,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,580,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,717,000 after buying an additional 215,709 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avient by 7.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,229,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,414,000 after buying an additional 88,576 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 32.4% in the third quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 737,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,051,000 after buying an additional 180,330 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Avient by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 0.9% in the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,968,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,527,000 after buying an additional 18,411 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avient Stock Performance

AVNT traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 326,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 462,093. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.73 and a fifty-two week high of $43.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 52.07, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.92.

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

Avient Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s payout ratio is 124.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

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.