11,736 Shares in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Acquired by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 11,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HUN. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the third quarter valued at about $134,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 1,942.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 9,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 8,876 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Huntsman by 23.5% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Huntsman by 5.0% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in Huntsman in the third quarter valued at $307,000. 84.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HUN. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Huntsman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Huntsman from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.55.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HUN opened at $24.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 45.28 and a beta of 1.12. Huntsman Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.14 and a fifty-two week high of $29.90.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.07). Huntsman had a return on equity of 1.92% and a net margin of 1.65%. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. This is a boost from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Huntsman’s payout ratio is currently 188.68%.

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.