Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Huntsman (NYSE:HUN)

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 51,823 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,689% compared to the average volume of 2,897 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on HUN. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Huntsman from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Huntsman from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Huntsman from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Huntsman from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Huntsman from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.05.

Institutional Trading of Huntsman

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 9.7% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 11,004 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 19,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 1,239 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in Huntsman by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 117,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,853,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Huntsman by 177.9% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 40.3% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,445 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE HUN opened at $8.85 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -4.54 and a beta of 0.64. Huntsman has a fifty-two week low of $8.79 and a fifty-two week high of $24.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 2.48% and a negative net margin of 5.75%.Huntsman’s quarterly revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Huntsman will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -51.28%.

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.