Nomura Holdings Inc. Purchases 2,135,000 Shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN - Free Report) by 188.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,269,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,135,000 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. owned about 1.89% of Huntsman worth $58,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Huntsman by 10.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,342,478 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $32,488,000 after acquiring an additional 124,841 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,482,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $297,171,000 after purchasing an additional 130,702 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Huntsman by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,686,557 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $102,529,000 after purchasing an additional 349,502 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Huntsman by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,009,093 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $18,194,000 after purchasing an additional 125,595 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Huntsman during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,338,000. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company's stock.

Huntsman Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of HUN stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $12.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,329,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,577,227. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of -11.22 and a beta of 0.82. Huntsman Co. has a 52 week low of $11.15 and a 52 week high of $25.78. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $14.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11). Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 3.13%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.06) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.08%. Huntsman's payout ratio is -109.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HUN. UBS Group cut their price objective on Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America cut shares of Huntsman from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntsman from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Huntsman from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Huntsman from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.00.

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.