Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on HUN. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $19.00 to $13.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Huntsman from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Huntsman Stock Performance

HUN opened at $11.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.57 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $13.62 and a 200 day moving average of $16.55. Huntsman has a fifty-two week low of $11.15 and a fifty-two week high of $25.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. Huntsman’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.06) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Huntsman will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntsman

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth about $395,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 77,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 12,400 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth about $3,827,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 95.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,232 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 4,506 shares during the period. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntsman by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 13,157 shares during the period. 84.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.