Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 215,709 Shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,580,867 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 215,709 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 1.73% of Avient worth $65,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AVNT. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Avient by 139.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Avient by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Avient in the 3rd quarter worth $136,000. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Avient in the 3rd quarter worth $165,000. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in Avient in the 4th quarter worth $191,000. Institutional investors own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Avient Price Performance

Shares of Avient stock opened at $42.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.70. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $27.73 and a twelve month high of $43.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.53.

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

Avient Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.257 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 124.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AVNT. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

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.