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

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 30,101 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,873% compared to the typical volume of 1,526 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntsman

In related news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 20,201 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total value of $432,705.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntsman

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Huntsman by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,891,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,389,000 after acquiring an additional 243,821 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Huntsman by 54.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,415,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,536,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,344 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Huntsman by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,301,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,905,000 after purchasing an additional 70,382 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Huntsman by 1.1% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,055,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,937,000 after buying an additional 31,883 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,583,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,538,000 after buying an additional 40,330 shares in the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on HUN shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Huntsman from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.14.

Huntsman Price Performance

Shares of Huntsman stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $17.25. 354,974 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,010,026. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $19.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.54. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.00 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.47. Huntsman has a 1-year low of $17.15 and a 1-year high of $27.01.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 0.03% and a negative net margin of 1.99%. Huntsman’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Huntsman will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntsman Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio is currently -144.93%.

About Huntsman

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.