Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Sells 155,891 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. trimmed its stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 22.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 554,269 shares of the company’s stock after selling 155,891 shares during the quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned approximately 0.61% of Avient worth $22,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avient by 221.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 173,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,706,000 after buying an additional 119,229 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Avient by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,261 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Avient by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 608,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,626,000 after purchasing an additional 111,489 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in Avient by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 13,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 2,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avient by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 108,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,414,000 after buying an additional 1,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVNT has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Avient from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Avient from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Baird R W raised shares of Avient to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Avient in a research report on Friday, March 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avient presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.20.

Avient Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Avient stock opened at $36.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.02. Avient Co. has a 1 year low of $27.86 and a 1 year high of $54.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.38.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $826.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $834.90 million. Avient had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 10.44%. Avient’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Avient’s payout ratio is 59.02%.

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.