Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Huntsman from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.00.

Huntsman Trading Up 3.5%

NYSE:HUN opened at $8.77 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.10 and its 200-day moving average is $10.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Huntsman has a 12 month low of $7.30 and a 12 month high of $20.94. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.50 and a beta of 0.68.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. The business 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%. Huntsman’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Huntsman will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.0875 dividend. This represents a $0.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -18.42%.

Institutional Trading of Huntsman

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Huntsman by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,357,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $146,889,000 after purchasing an additional 70,579 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 345.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,926,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $151,982,000 after purchasing an additional 7,699,922 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 83.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,364,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,131,000 after buying an additional 3,351,265 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,663,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,836,000 after buying an additional 113,613 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Huntsman by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,105,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $96,407,000 after buying an additional 419,009 shares in the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntsman Company 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.