Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HUN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Huntsman from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $27.00 in a report on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of HUN stock opened at $22.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.27 and a beta of 1.01. Huntsman has a one year low of $22.14 and a one year high of $29.90.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. Huntsman had a positive return on equity of 0.67% and a negative net margin of 1.49%. Huntsman’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Huntsman will post 0.4 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is currently -192.31%.

Institutional Trading of Huntsman

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Huntsman in the first quarter valued at about $793,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $268,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,250,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,581,000 after purchasing an additional 281,155 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,011,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Huntsman by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,408,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,697,000 after purchasing an additional 203,396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

About Huntsman

Huntsman Corporation manufactures and sells diversified organic chemical products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Polyurethanes, Performance Products, and Advanced Materials. The Polyurethanes segment offers polyurethane chemicals, including methyl diphenyl diisocyanate, polyether and polyester polyols, and thermoplastic polyurethane; and aniline, benzene, nitrobenzene and other co-products.