Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) Short Interest Up 7.0% in July

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,610,000 shares, an increase of 7.0% from the June 30th total of 4,310,000 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,840,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth about $295,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 204.2% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 59,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 39,749 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 61,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,574 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 36,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $917,000 after acquiring an additional 3,260 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Huntsman by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HUN has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Huntsman from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Huntsman Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE HUN traded down $0.83 on Thursday, reaching $23.10. 1,770,104 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,906,529. Huntsman has a fifty-two week low of $21.41 and a fifty-two week high of $29.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.40 and a 200 day moving average of $24.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of -44.23 and a beta of 1.01.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06). Huntsman had a negative net margin of 1.49% and a positive return on equity of 0.67%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Huntsman will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is currently -192.31%.

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.