Brokerages Set Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Price Target at $26.55

Shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.55.

HUN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Huntsman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of HUN stock opened at $23.67 on Friday. Huntsman has a one year low of $22.14 and a one year high of $29.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.62. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.66 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.07). Huntsman had a return on equity of 1.92% and a net margin of 1.65%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. Huntsman’s quarterly revenue was down 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Huntsman will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. This is an increase from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 188.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 93.0% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in Huntsman during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Huntsman during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. 84.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.