Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in Huntsman Corporation $HUN

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 184,136 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,451,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,880,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $178,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,590 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Huntsman by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,062,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,878,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,563 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Huntsman by 83.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,364,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,131,000 after buying an additional 3,351,265 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Huntsman by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,969,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,697,000 after buying an additional 336,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,862,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,629,000 after buying an additional 199,668 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Performance

NYSE:HUN opened at $10.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of -5.72 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $13.53 and its 200 day moving average is $12.63. Huntsman Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $7.30 and a fifty-two week high of $16.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.03. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 5.83% and a negative return on equity of 4.60%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.11) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Huntsman Corporation will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.0875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Huntsman’s payout ratio is currently -18.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on HUN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Huntsman from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Huntsman from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Huntsman from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Huntsman from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.75.

About Huntsman

Huntsman Corporation is a global manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals with headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. Founded in 1970 by entrepreneur Jon Huntsman Sr., the company has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to establish a broad portfolio of products serving diverse end markets. Huntsman maintains a presence in more than 30 countries, operating manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.

The company organizes its operations into several core business segments, including Polyurethanes, Performance Products, Advanced Materials, and Textile Effects.