Marshall Wace LLP Grows Stock Position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 61.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,712,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 650,951 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.99% of Huntsman worth $30,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HUN. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 74.9% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,232 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 174.5% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 2,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $91,000. 84.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HUN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Huntsman from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Huntsman from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $22.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.67.

Huntsman Price Performance

HUN stock opened at $13.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $15.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.37. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.84 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36. Huntsman Co. has a 1 year low of $11.90 and a 1 year high of $25.92.

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). 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.