GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases New Position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Huntsman in the 3rd quarter worth about $134,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Huntsman by 1,942.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 9,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 8,876 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Huntsman by 23.5% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Huntsman by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Huntsman in the fourth quarter worth $295,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on HUN. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Huntsman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Huntsman from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.55.

Huntsman Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE HUN opened at $24.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of -47.17 and a beta of 1.14. Huntsman Co. has a 12-month low of $22.14 and a 12-month high of $29.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.67.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 1.49% and a positive return on equity of 0.66%. Huntsman’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Huntsman’s payout ratio is presently -192.31%.

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.