Arizona State Retirement System Sells 1,767 Shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,767 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $1,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Huntsman by 69.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,556,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $170,921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,388 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Huntsman during the fourth quarter valued at $47,780,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Huntsman by 101.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,792,098 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,727,000 after purchasing an additional 904,696 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Huntsman by 6,167.6% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 784,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,444,000 after purchasing an additional 772,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Huntsman by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,522,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $96,795,000 after purchasing an additional 486,885 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of HUN stock opened at $24.09 on Monday. Huntsman Co. has a 12-month low of $22.14 and a 12-month high of $29.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $25.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.45 and a beta of 1.12.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.07). Huntsman had a return on equity of 1.92% and a net margin of 1.65%. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Huntsman Co. will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is presently 188.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HUN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Huntsman from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Huntsman from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Huntsman from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Huntsman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.55.

Huntsman 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.