Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN - Free Report) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,205,548 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 78,872 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.70% of Huntsman worth $21,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 148,599 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,679,000 after buying an additional 45,579 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,464,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Huntsman by 81.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 430,046 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,754,000 after purchasing an additional 192,738 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Huntsman by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 49,141 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 5,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $301,000. 84.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on HUN. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Huntsman from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Huntsman from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Huntsman from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.00.

Huntsman Stock Up 1.5 %

HUN traded up $0.20 on Friday, hitting $13.64. The company had a trading volume of 3,458,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,436. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.40 and a beta of 0.85. Huntsman Co. has a 52-week low of $11.90 and a 52-week high of $25.92.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Huntsman's dividend payout ratio is presently -90.91%.

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.