Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.9091.

Several research firms recently issued reports on HUN. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 6th. Alembic Global Advisors set a $11.00 price objective on Huntsman in a report on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $8.00 target price (down from $9.00) on shares of Huntsman in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 104.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 2,015 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 197.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 2,431 shares during the period. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 2,182.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 4,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 4,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Huntsman during the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Huntsman stock opened at $8.20 on Friday. Huntsman has a 1-year low of $7.30 and a 1-year high of $20.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of -4.21 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.53.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 5.75% and a negative return on equity of 2.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Huntsman will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.0875 per share. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is currently -52.63%.

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.