State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Boosts Stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 108,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 18,198 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.06% of Huntsman worth $1,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,950 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 3,167 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Huntsman by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 117,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,093,000 after acquiring an additional 19,601 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the fourth quarter worth $181,000. EMC Capital Management grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 10,288 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Huntsman in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. 84.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HUN. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Huntsman from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.63.

Huntsman Price Performance

Huntsman stock opened at $17.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.37 and a 200-day moving average of $20.07. Huntsman Co. has a 52-week low of $15.67 and a 52-week high of $27.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.98 and a beta of 0.95.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.18). Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.69%. Huntsman’s payout ratio is currently -90.91%.

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.