Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,138,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,967 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 1.81% of Huntsman worth $56,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUN. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth $60,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,788 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Price Performance

NYSE HUN opened at $12.04 on Monday. Huntsman Co. has a 12 month low of $11.15 and a 12 month high of $25.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of -10.95 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.08.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.06) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is -109.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on HUN. Bank of America downgraded Huntsman from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Huntsman from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $13.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $19.00 to $13.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntsman has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.00.

Huntsman Company Profile

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.