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

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN – Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,050,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the February 13th total of 5,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 3.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Huntsman from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Huntsman from $33.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Vertical Research lowered shares of Huntsman from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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 Thursday, December 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.67.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of HUN opened at $27.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Huntsman has a one year low of $23.53 and a one year high of $40.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.15.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Huntsman had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 16.03%. Huntsman’s revenue was down 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Huntsman will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.2375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $0.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. This is a boost from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.98%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HUN. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 27,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 6,907 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 42.3% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,986 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the 1st quarter worth approximately $155,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,672,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $475,358,000 after acquiring an additional 47,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 14,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. 87.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Huntsman Company Profile

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Huntsman Corp. engages in the manufacturing of differentiated organic chemical products. It operates through the following segments: Polyurethanes, Performance Products, and Advanced Materials. The Polyurethanes segment manufactures and markets polyurethane chemicals, including MDI products, PO, polyols, PG, TPU, aniline, and MTBE.