Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 265,304 Shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,059,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 265,304 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $26,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Huntsman during the 4th quarter valued at $43,761,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 6,496.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,457,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435,782 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,792,098 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,727,000 after purchasing an additional 904,696 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 644.0% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 378,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,516,000 after purchasing an additional 448,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 591.3% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,447,000 after purchasing an additional 287,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of HUN stock opened at $23.44 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of -45.08 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.73. Huntsman Co. has a 52 week low of $22.14 and a 52 week high of $29.90.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for 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 0.67%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -192.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HUN has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Huntsman from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Friday, June 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.20.

Huntsman 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.