Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,890,000 shares, a decline of 5.8% from the August 31st total of 4,130,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,970,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on HUN shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Huntsman from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Huntsman from $30.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Huntsman from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Huntsman from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.56.

Huntsman Price Performance

HUN opened at $24.04 on Wednesday. Huntsman has a 1 year low of $19.91 and a 1 year high of $27.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.44. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of -46.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 1.44% and a positive return on equity of 0.26%. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Huntsman will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -192.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Huntsman in the 1st quarter worth about $45,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 44.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 1,250.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Huntsman during the second quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

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.