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

Huntsman Co. (NYSE:HUN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 30,101 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,873% compared to the typical volume of 1,526 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntsman

In other news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 20,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntsman

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HUN. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Huntsman during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings in Huntsman by 1,250.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Huntsman in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Huntsman in the 3rd quarter valued at $78,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Huntsman by 64.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,441 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Huntsman from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntsman currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.14.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HUN traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $17.25. 354,974 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,010,026. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.65 and a 200-day moving average of $21.54. Huntsman has a 52-week low of $17.15 and a 52-week high of $27.01. The stock has a market capitalization 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 current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 1.99% and a negative return on equity of 0.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Huntsman will post 0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntsman Dividend Announcement

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

Huntsman Company 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.