Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) Short Interest Up 35.0% in January

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 20,182,177 shares, a growth of 35.0% from the December 31st total of 14,946,087 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,668,926 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.3 days. Currently, 12.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Currently, 12.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,668,926 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Huntsman from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Huntsman in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Huntsman from $20.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Huntsman in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $11.00.

Institutional Trading of Huntsman

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 83.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,351,265 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $106,878,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,563 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 476.5% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,841,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,517,000 after purchasing an additional 2,348,598 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman in the second quarter valued at $21,953,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Huntsman in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,651,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Price Performance

NYSE:HUN opened at $12.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.20 and a beta of 0.70. Huntsman has a 12 month low of $7.30 and a 12 month high of $18.53.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 3.26% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Huntsman will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.0875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is currently -18.42%.

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.