Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Shares Sold by Sciencast Management LP

Sciencast Management LP lessened its stake in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 39.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,460 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of HUN. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Huntsman by 0.4% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 185,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,816,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Huntsman by 1,749.2% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 8,451 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994 shares during the period. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 6.0% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 248,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,479,000 after purchasing an additional 14,095 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the first quarter worth $1,428,000. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 25.0% during the first quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 76,812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 15,379 shares in the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Huntsman from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Huntsman from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $27.00 in a report on Friday, June 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntsman presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Huntsman Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of HUN traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.54. 2,564,731 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,916,706. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Huntsman Co. has a twelve month low of $21.41 and a twelve month high of $29.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $23.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.35 and a beta of 1.01.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.06). Huntsman had a negative net margin of 1.49% and a positive return on equity of 0.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. Huntsman’s payout ratio is currently -192.31%.

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.