Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,332,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,520,000 after buying an additional 213,048 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Huntsman during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,343,000. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 16,368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 33,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 4,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 523,851 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,781,000 after buying an additional 1,316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HUN opened at $24.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.34 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.64. Huntsman Co. has a twelve month low of $22.14 and a twelve month high of $29.90.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Huntsman had a return on equity of 1.92% and a net margin of 1.65%. Huntsman’s revenue was down 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Huntsman Co. will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is 188.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on 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 raised Huntsman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Huntsman from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Huntsman from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.55.

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.