Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Huntsman (NYSE:HUN)

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 9,055 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 282% compared to the average daily volume of 2,371 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Huntsman from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Huntsman from $30.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Huntsman from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.56.

Huntsman Stock Performance

HUN stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $22.70. The company had a trading volume of 216,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,914,804. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $21.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of -43.31 and a beta of 1.00. Huntsman has a fifty-two week low of $19.91 and a fifty-two week high of $27.01.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.14. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 1.44% and a positive return on equity of 0.26%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Huntsman will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -192.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HUN. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 93.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Huntsman during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Huntsman in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 44.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 1,250.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

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.