Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $10.1818.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HUN shares. Alembic Global Advisors set a $11.00 price objective on Huntsman in a report on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Huntsman from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $8.50 to $10.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Huntsman from $20.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th.

Huntsman Price Performance

HUN stock opened at $10.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E 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. Huntsman has a 1 year low of $7.30 and a 1 year high of $20.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.10.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 5.69% and a negative return on equity of 3.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Huntsman will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntsman

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HUN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Huntsman by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,357,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $146,889,000 after buying an additional 70,579 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 29.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,062,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $106,878,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,563 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 83.5% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,364,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,131,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351,265 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 1.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,663,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,836,000 after acquiring an additional 113,613 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Huntsman by 7.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,105,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $96,407,000 after purchasing an additional 419,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

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.