Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Sets New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $20.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Huntsman traded as low as $15.22 and last traded at $15.44, with a volume of 543260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.82.

Several other brokerages have also commented on HUN. Mizuho cut their price objective on Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntsman

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 130,702 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,686,557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,529,000 after acquiring an additional 349,502 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 320.2% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,695,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,578,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Huntsman by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,301,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,905,000 after acquiring an additional 70,382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $58,940,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.36 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.28.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 3.13%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.