Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,140 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $321,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Huntsman by 2.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,379,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $204,455,000 after purchasing an additional 183,734 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 2.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,463,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $157,717,000 after acquiring an additional 152,667 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 14.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,372,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $106,678,000 after acquiring an additional 556,629 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 101.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,792,098 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,727,000 after acquiring an additional 904,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 3.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,770,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,188,000 after acquiring an additional 55,828 shares in the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Huntsman Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE HUN opened at $24.03 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.34 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.64. Huntsman Co. has a 12-month low of $22.14 and a 12-month high of $29.90.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Huntsman had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 1.92%. The firm’s revenue was down 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.04 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 188.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HUN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Huntsman from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Huntsman from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Huntsman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Huntsman from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.55.

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.