Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Price Target to $17.00

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $20.00 to $17.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on HUN. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntsman has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.00.

Huntsman Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HUN opened at $13.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36. Huntsman has a 52-week low of $11.90 and a 52-week high of $25.92. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.65. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.40 and a beta of 0.85.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Huntsman will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is presently -90.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntsman

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Huntsman by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,482,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,171,000 after acquiring an additional 130,702 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 worth $102,529,000 after purchasing an additional 349,502 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Huntsman by 320.2% in the fourth 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 grew its holdings in Huntsman by 2.2% during the third 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 period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in Huntsman by 188.3% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,269,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,940,000 after buying an additional 2,135,000 shares during the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.