CoreFirst Bank & Trust Buys Shares of 16,709 Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 16,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HUN. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $84,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,578,100 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Huntsman by 295.1% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 722,990 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,496,000 after purchasing an additional 539,990 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Huntsman by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,376,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,825,000 after purchasing an additional 357,136 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 349,502 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the 4th quarter valued at $5,475,000. 84.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Huntsman from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

Huntsman Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HUN opened at $16.40 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.47. Huntsman Co. has a one year low of $15.46 and a one year high of $26.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of -14.91 and a beta of 0.95.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 3.13%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.10%. Huntsman’s payout ratio is -90.91%.

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.