Rhumbline Advisers Lowers Stock Position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Rhumbline Advisers decreased its position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 174,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,260 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.10% of Huntsman worth $3,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of HUN. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Huntsman in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Huntsman during the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Huntsman in the third quarter valued at approximately $78,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 95.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,232 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co increased its position in shares of Huntsman by 853.7% during the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 9,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 8,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on Huntsman from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.63.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HUN opened at $16.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.99. Huntsman Co. has a 52 week low of $15.67 and a 52 week high of $27.01. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.36 and a beta of 0.95.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Huntsman’s dividend 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.