Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Huntsman Corporation $HUN

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its stake in Huntsman Corporation by 4.0%, selling 125,196 shares and owning 3,013,038 shares valued at approximately $47.6 million.
• Multiple institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Huntsman during the first quarter, including Hexagon Capital Partners increasing its stake by 177.9%.
• Analysts have downgraded Huntsman's price targets, with firms like Wells Fargo and The Goldman Sachs Group setting new price objectives at $9.00 and $10.00 respectively, while the consensus rating remains at "Hold."

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,013,038 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 125,196 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 1.73% of Huntsman worth $47,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HUN. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Huntsman by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,009,093 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $18,194,000 after acquiring an additional 125,595 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Huntsman by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 16,188 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 4,747 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 155,213 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 35,949 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 174.5% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 436,005 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,861,000 after acquiring an additional 277,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 11,120 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company's stock.

Huntsman Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:HUN traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $10.95. 1,252,875 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,917,263. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $10.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.60 and a beta of 0.65. Huntsman Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $8.91 and a fifty-two week high of $25.12.

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

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Huntsman's dividend payout ratio is presently -51.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HUN. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Huntsman from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Huntsman from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.25.

About Huntsman

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.