Royce & Associates LP Has $4.10 Million Stock Holdings in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its holdings in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 227,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,583 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Huntsman were worth $4,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 6.5% during 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. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 320.2% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,695,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578,100 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,301,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,905,000 after purchasing an additional 70,382 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Huntsman by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,055,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,937,000 after purchasing an additional 31,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,583,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,538,000 after buying an additional 40,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Down 3.5 %

HUN stock opened at $16.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.60. Huntsman Co. has a 52 week low of $15.46 and a 52 week high of $26.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by ($0.18). Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is presently -90.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HUN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Huntsman from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntsman presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.50.

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.