JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Position in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN - Free Report) by 81.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 430,046 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 192,738 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.25% of Huntsman worth $7,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HUN. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 10.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,342,478 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $32,488,000 after buying an additional 124,841 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Huntsman by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,482,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $297,171,000 after acquiring an additional 130,702 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $102,529,000 after purchasing an additional 349,502 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the 4th quarter worth $569,000. Finally, Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Huntsman in the fourth quarter valued at $1,338,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HUN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Huntsman from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Huntsman from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Huntsman from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Huntsman from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Huntsman has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.67.

Huntsman Price Performance

Huntsman stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $13.03. 2,705,288 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,354,665. The company has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.84 and a beta of 0.85. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $15.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.26. Huntsman Co. has a 1 year low of $11.90 and a 1 year high of $25.92.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Huntsman Co. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Huntsman's payout ratio is -90.91%.

Huntsman 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.