Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 116,072 Shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 98.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 234,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 116,072 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $4,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUN. Kennondale Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 4th quarter valued at about $472,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 174.5% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 2,788 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,338,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 4th quarter valued at about $373,000. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 320.2% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,695,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HUN shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.50.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of HUN opened at $16.35 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.58. Huntsman Co. has a 1-year low of $15.46 and a 1-year high of $26.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of -14.86 and a beta of 0.95.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is currently -90.91%.

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.