Huntsman Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:HUN)

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 26,420 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,257% compared to the average daily volume of 1,947 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Huntsman by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,482,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $297,171,000 after purchasing an additional 130,702 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 320.2% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,695,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,578,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,301,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,905,000 after acquiring an additional 70,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 188.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,269,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,940,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of HUN traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $17.63. The company had a trading volume of 942,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,094,882. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.68. Huntsman has a 1-year low of $15.46 and a 1-year high of $26.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.01 and a beta of 0.95.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.18). Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 3.13%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Analysts expect that Huntsman will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given 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 5.67%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -90.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price 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. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup cut 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. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Huntsman currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.50.

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.