Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Huntsman (NYSE:HUN)

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 42,905 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 659% compared to the average volume of 5,650 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on HUN shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Huntsman from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $8.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Huntsman in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Huntsman from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Huntsman from $8.50 to $9.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HUN. UBS Group AG increased its position 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 worth $66,131,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,265 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 29.8% during the third 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 last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in Huntsman by 476.5% in the third 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 bought a new stake in Huntsman in the second quarter valued at about $21,953,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Huntsman during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,651,000. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Huntsman Stock Down 1.0%

HUN stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.93. The stock had a trading volume of 5,641,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,757,037. 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 fifty day moving average price of $9.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.28 and a beta of 0.68. Huntsman has a 1-year low of $7.30 and a 1-year high of $18.53.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 3.26% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.The company’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 company earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Huntsman will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.0875 per share. 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 (DPR) is presently -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.