23,583 Shares in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Acquired by AXQ Capital LP

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 23,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Huntsman during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Huntsman in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 174.5% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,788 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Huntsman by 95.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,232 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 853.7% in the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 9,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 8,648 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HUN opened at $16.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.52. Huntsman Co. has a 52-week low of $15.46 and a 52-week high of $26.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.79 and a beta of 0.95.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.15%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -90.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HUN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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 cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.50.

Huntsman 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.