Investors Purchase Large Volume of Huntsman Call Options (NYSE:HUN)

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 30,197 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 505% compared to the average volume of 4,990 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on HUN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on Huntsman from $8.50 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.18.

Huntsman Stock Performance

NYSE HUN opened at $10.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of -5.58 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.78 and a 200-day moving average of $10.10. Huntsman has a 52-week low of $7.30 and a 52-week high of $20.94.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 3.26% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Huntsman will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.0875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -52.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Huntsman by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 50,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $796,000 after acquiring an additional 8,948 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 30.0% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 40,194 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 9,282 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Huntsman during the 1st quarter worth about $293,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 33,841 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Huntsman in the 1st quarter valued at about $174,000. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Huntsman Company Profile

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.