Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Stock

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.12% from the stock’s current price.

HUN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Huntsman from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho cut their target price on Huntsman from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors lowered Huntsman from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Huntsman presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.63.

Huntsman Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE HUN opened at $17.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.02 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.39 and a 200-day moving average of $20.10. Huntsman has a 1-year low of $15.67 and a 1-year high of $27.01.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 17th. The basic materials company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. Huntsman had a negative net margin of 3.13% and a negative return on equity of 0.39%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Huntsman will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Huntsman

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Huntsman by 320.2% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 4,695,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,663,000 after buying an additional 3,578,100 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in Huntsman by 188.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,269,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,940,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Huntsman during the fourth quarter worth $37,464,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 70.2% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,762,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Huntsman by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,712,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,870,000 after purchasing an additional 650,951 shares during the last quarter. 84.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.