PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,939 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,579 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Avient were worth $741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Avient during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $338,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Avient by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $691,000 after buying an additional 3,884 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Avient by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 68,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,544,000 after buying an additional 12,690 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Avient by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 65,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,440,000 after buying an additional 1,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Avient by 129.7% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 7,295 shares in the last quarter. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avient Trading Down 0.0%

AVNT stock opened at $32.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.55. Avient Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $27.86 and a fifty-two week high of $54.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.38.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. Avient had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $866.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $852.98 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. Avient’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Avient from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Avient from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.60.

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.