Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 21,580 Shares of Avient Corporation $AVNT

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in shares of Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) by 40.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,228 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,580 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Avient were worth $1,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Avient during the first quarter worth $50,471,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Avient during the 1st quarter worth about $37,160,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Avient by 100.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,125,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,839,000 after buying an additional 564,099 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 6.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,348,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,576,000 after buying an additional 279,064 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Avient by 9.1% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,118,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,871,000 after buying an additional 260,670 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Avient in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Avient from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of Avient in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Avient in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avient has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.50.

Avient Trading Down 3.6%

AVNT stock opened at $30.16 on Friday. Avient Corporation has a 1-year low of $27.86 and a 1-year high of $53.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.58 and its 200-day moving average is $34.41. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.48.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Avient had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 3.65%.The business had revenue of $806.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $823.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. Avient’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Avient has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.770-2.870 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Avient Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is 89.43%.

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.