Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Shares Acquired by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 108,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 18,198 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $1,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUN. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Huntsman during the third quarter worth about $78,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Huntsman by 95.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,232 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 4,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co increased its holdings in Huntsman by 853.7% in the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 9,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 8,648 shares during the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HUN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Huntsman from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.63.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of HUN opened at $17.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36. Huntsman Co. has a 1 year low of $15.67 and a 1 year high of $27.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.37 and a 200-day moving average of $20.07. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.98 and a beta of 0.95.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is currently -90.91%.

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.