Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Trading Down 4% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) dropped 4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $12.38 and last traded at $12.39. Approximately 422,405 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 6,623,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HUN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Huntsman in a report on Monday, December 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Huntsman in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Huntsman from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $12.41.

Huntsman Trading Down 2.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.63 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.59.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by ($0.08). Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 3.97% and a negative net margin of 5.00%.The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Huntsman Corporation will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.0875 per share. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is presently -21.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth $540,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 157,782 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 17,320 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Huntsman in the fourth quarter worth $140,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Huntsman in the fourth quarter valued at about $351,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Huntsman by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,862,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,629,000 after purchasing an additional 199,668 shares during the period. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntsman Company 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.