Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Huntsman (NYSE:HUN – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

HUN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Huntsman from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on Huntsman from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Huntsman from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Huntsman from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Huntsman from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $31.67.

Huntsman Stock Performance

NYSE HUN opened at $27.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.19. Huntsman has a 12-month low of $23.53 and a 12-month high of $40.62.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Huntsman had a return on equity of 16.03% and a net margin of 5.47%. The business’s revenue was down 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Research analysts expect that Huntsman will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.2375 per share. This represents a $0.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.98%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,672,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $475,358,000 after buying an additional 47,739 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,428,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $259,096,000 after buying an additional 1,558,767 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 9,078,812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $222,794,000 after buying an additional 495,609 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,073,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $221,861,000 after buying an additional 261,030 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 5,566,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $152,967,000 after buying an additional 102,087 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.57% of the company’s stock.

About Huntsman

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Huntsman Corp. engages in the manufacturing of differentiated organic chemical products. It operates through the following segments: Polyurethanes, Performance Products, and Advanced Materials. The Polyurethanes segment manufactures and markets polyurethane chemicals, including MDI products, PO, polyols, PG, TPU, aniline, and MTBE.