Huntsman Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:HUN)

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 30,197 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 505% compared to the typical volume of 4,990 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HUN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Huntsman in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Huntsman from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntsman

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Huntsman by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,357,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $146,889,000 after buying an additional 70,579 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 29.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,062,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $106,878,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,563 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 83.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,364,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,131,000 after acquiring an additional 3,351,265 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Huntsman by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,663,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,836,000 after buying an additional 113,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Huntsman by 7.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,105,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $96,407,000 after acquiring an additional 419,009 shares in the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of HUN stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $10.38. The company had a trading volume of 2,426,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,304,256. Huntsman has a 12 month low of $7.30 and a 12 month high of $20.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $8.74 and its 200 day moving average is $10.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.32 and a beta of 0.68.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 2.48% and a negative net margin of 5.75%.The business had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. Huntsman’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Huntsman will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0875 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -18.42%.

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.