Huntsman Corporation $HUN Shares Bought by Inspire Advisors LLC

Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) by 29.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 280,296 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,047 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC owned 0.16% of Huntsman worth $2,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Huntsman in the third quarter worth about $33,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Huntsman by 197.6% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Huntsman by 104.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Huntsman by 986.0% in the third quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 6,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 5,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 70.2% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 3,288 shares during the period. 84.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on HUN. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Huntsman in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Huntsman from $20.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Huntsman from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $11.00.

Huntsman Stock Performance

NYSE:HUN opened at $11.93 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.28 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Huntsman Corporation has a 1-year low of $7.30 and a 1-year high of $18.53.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 3.26% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Huntsman Corporation will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.0875 per share. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -18.42%.

Huntsman Profile

Huntsman Corporation is a global manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals with headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. Founded in 1970 by entrepreneur Jon Huntsman Sr., the company has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to establish a broad portfolio of products serving diverse end markets. Huntsman maintains a presence in more than 30 countries, operating manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.

The company organizes its operations into several core business segments, including Polyurethanes, Performance Products, Advanced Materials, and Textile Effects.