R Squared Ltd Acquires Shares of 2,210 Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,045,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 295.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 722,990 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,496,000 after purchasing an additional 539,990 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 1,066.7% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 281,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,808,000 after purchasing an additional 257,225 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,317,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,827,000. 84.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HUN. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 20,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total transaction of $432,705.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Huntsman Trading Down 2.5 %

Huntsman stock opened at $16.84 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of -24.41 and a beta of 0.97. Huntsman Co. has a 12-month low of $15.95 and a 12-month high of $27.01.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 1.99% and a negative return on equity of 0.03%. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -144.93%.

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.