Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Shares Sold by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE trimmed its holdings in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 60.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,281,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,972,127 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $23,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,482,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,171,000 after acquiring an additional 130,702 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Huntsman by 6.5% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 349,502 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in Huntsman by 320.2% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,695,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578,100 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Huntsman during the fourth quarter worth about $37,464,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Huntsman by 61.3% in the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE HUN opened at $12.67 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $14.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.52 and a beta of 0.82. Huntsman Co. has a 12 month low of $11.15 and a 12 month high of $25.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.11). Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 3.13%. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.06) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.89%. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -109.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on HUN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Huntsman from $19.00 to $13.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. 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 research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Huntsman from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.00.

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.