Legal & General Group Plc Has $5.63 Million Stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 312,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,905 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.18% of Huntsman worth $5,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 320.2% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,695,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578,100 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,464,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Huntsman by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,376,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,825,000 after acquiring an additional 357,136 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Huntsman by 6.5% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 349,502 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,270,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,903,000 after acquiring an additional 343,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE HUN opened at $13.03 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a PE ratio of -11.84 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.22. Huntsman Co. has a 12-month low of $11.90 and a 12-month high of $25.92.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by ($0.18). Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 3.13%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.68%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is -90.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HUN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Alembic Global Advisors cut Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Huntsman from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Huntsman from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.67.

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.