Investors Buy High Volume of Huntsman Put Options (NYSE:HUN)

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 8,556 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 585% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,249 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on HUN shares. Mizuho cut their price target on Huntsman from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Huntsman from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Huntsman from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Huntsman in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.27.

Huntsman Price Performance

HUN stock opened at $24.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 54.14 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Huntsman has a 1 year low of $22.14 and a 1 year high of $33.46.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. Huntsman had a return on equity of 2.90% and a net margin of 1.27%. Huntsman’s revenue for the quarter was down 25.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Huntsman will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be issued a $0.2375 dividend. This represents a $0.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is 206.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntsman

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HUN. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 61.7% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,976,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $218,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,044,156 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Huntsman by 152.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,369,184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $119,541,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639,490 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Huntsman by 69.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,556,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $170,921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,388 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Huntsman during the fourth quarter worth about $47,780,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Huntsman by 35.3% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,311,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $170,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645,657 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.44% of the company’s stock.

About Huntsman

Huntsman Corporation manufactures and sells diversified organic chemical products worldwide. The company operates through 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.