Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Boosts Stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 342.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,540 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis boosted its stake in Huntsman by 93,481.3% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 104,811 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,890,000 after acquiring an additional 104,699 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,712,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,870,000 after buying an additional 650,951 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 324.1% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 46,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $843,000 after buying an additional 35,734 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in Huntsman by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 116,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,091,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Icon Advisers Inc. Co. boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 86.3% in the fourth quarter. Icon Advisers Inc. Co. now owns 136,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares in the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of HUN opened at $11.41 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Huntsman Co. has a 52 week low of $11.32 and a 52 week high of $25.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.37 and a beta of 0.82.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.06) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is currently -109.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Huntsman from $20.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.00.

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.