Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Reaches New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a sell rating. The company traded as low as $11.60 and last traded at $11.62, with a volume of 5244175 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $12.12.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $17.00) on shares of Huntsman in a research report on Monday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntsman currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.61.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,482,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,171,000 after purchasing an additional 130,702 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Huntsman by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,686,557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,529,000 after buying an additional 349,502 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,859,007 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $76,724,000 after buying an additional 163,329 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Huntsman by 188.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,269,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,940,000 after buying an additional 2,135,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,138,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,582,000 after acquiring an additional 82,967 shares in the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Huntsman Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of -10.56 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.40.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.06) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.61%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -90.91%.

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.