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

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 42,905 put options on the company. This is an increase of 659% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,650 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Entropy Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Huntsman by 453.9% in the second quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 107,649 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 88,215 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Huntsman in the second quarter valued at about $572,000. Boston Partners grew its stake in Huntsman by 657.9% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 982,508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,102,000 after purchasing an additional 852,877 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Huntsman by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 558,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,818,000 after purchasing an additional 179,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Regents Gate Capital LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,217,000. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntsman Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of HUN stock opened at $11.72 on Thursday. Huntsman has a 1 year low of $7.30 and a 1 year high of $18.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of -6.17 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 5.69% and a negative return on equity of 3.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Huntsman will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.0875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Huntsman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -18.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on HUN shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Huntsman from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Huntsman in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Huntsman from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on Huntsman from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Huntsman from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

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.