Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Huntsman Corporation $HUN

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 16,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HUN. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Huntsman by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,064,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $95,751,000 after purchasing an additional 75,097 shares in the last quarter. Investors Research Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 140.8% in the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 66,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 38,950 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $96,407,000 after buying an additional 419,009 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Huntsman during the second quarter worth about $572,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in Huntsman by 40.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 426,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,738,000 after acquiring an additional 123,069 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Trading Up 5.5%

NYSE HUN opened at $10.08 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $8.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.43. Huntsman Corporation has a twelve month low of $7.30 and a twelve month high of $20.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.17 and a beta of 0.68.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 2.48% and a negative net margin of 5.75%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Huntsman Corporation will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.0875 per share. This represents a $0.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -18.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HUN. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Huntsman from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 3rd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.00.

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.