ING Groep NV Makes New $3.92 Million Investment in Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN)

Key Points

• ING Groep NV has taken a new position in Huntsman Corporation, purchasing 248,300 shares valued at approximately $3.92 million, which represents about 0.14% ownership of the company.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their stakes in Huntsman, with 84.81% of the stock currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Huntsman recently reported a quarterly earnings miss, with a loss of ($0.20) earnings per share and a revenue decline of 7.4% year-over-year, prompting several analysts to downgrade their price targets for the stock.

ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 248,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,921,000. ING Groep NV owned about 0.14% of Huntsman as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 188.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,269,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $58,940,000 after buying an additional 2,135,000 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 70.2% in the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,762,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $49,815,000 after buying an additional 1,139,549 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 61.3% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,712,163 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,870,000 after buying an additional 650,951 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 4,078.9% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 500,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,015,000 after buying an additional 488,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,268,158 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $40,895,000 after buying an additional 354,691 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HUN. Bank of America cut shares of Huntsman from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $22.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $13.50 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.06.

Huntsman Stock Performance

HUN traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $9.45. The stock had a trading volume of 4,384,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,402,444. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.85 and a beta of 0.70. The company's 50-day moving average price is $10.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.52. Huntsman Corporation has a twelve month low of $9.02 and a twelve month high of $25.12.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 5.75% and a negative return on equity of 2.48%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Huntsman Corporation will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Huntsman's payout ratio is presently -51.28%.

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.