Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) saw a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,890,000 shares, a decrease of 5.8% from the August 31st total of 4,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,970,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 1.5% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,657,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $151,599,000 after acquiring an additional 97,082 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,891,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,389,000 after purchasing an additional 243,821 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 54.0% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,415,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,536,000 after buying an additional 1,547,344 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,151,535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,198,000 after buying an additional 1,359,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Huntsman by 9.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,408,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,697,000 after buying an additional 203,396 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of Huntsman stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Monday, reaching $24.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 174,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,924,446. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Huntsman has a one year low of $19.91 and a one year high of $27.01.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Huntsman will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -192.31%.

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.