Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Shares Acquired by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 4,078.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 500,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 488,035 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.29% of Huntsman worth $9,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,342,478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,488,000 after purchasing an additional 124,841 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,482,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,171,000 after acquiring an additional 130,702 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,686,557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,529,000 after acquiring an additional 349,502 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Huntsman in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,338,000. Finally, Icon Advisers Inc. Co. lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 86.3% in the fourth quarter. Icon Advisers Inc. Co. now owns 136,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,452,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntsman Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:HUN opened at $12.04 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.08. Huntsman Co. has a 52 week low of $11.15 and a 52 week high of $25.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.95 and a beta of 0.82.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 3.13%. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.06) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on HUN. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Huntsman from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Bank of America cut Huntsman from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors cut Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.00.

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.