Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT - Free Report) by 836.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 480,227 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 428,971 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.53% of Avient worth $20,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Avient by 162.9% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 748,675 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,680,000 after purchasing an additional 463,919 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Avient during the 2nd quarter valued at $15,520,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in shares of Avient by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,470,349 shares of the company's stock worth $63,813,000 after acquiring an additional 328,773 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Avient in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,135,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Avient by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,359,671 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,010,000 after acquiring an additional 158,163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.48% of the company's stock.
Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Avient from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on AVNT
Shares of NYSE AVNT opened at $49.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. Avient Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.73 and a fifty-two week high of $51.51. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 42.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.82 and a 200-day moving average of $44.72.
Avient (NYSE:AVNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. Avient had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 3.70%. The business had revenue of $850.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $841.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Avient's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Avient's dividend payout ratio is currently 89.57%.
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.
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