Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) Releases Earnings Results, Meets Expectations

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The basic materials company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06), RTT News reports. Huntsman had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 1.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Huntsman Stock Performance

Shares of Huntsman stock traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $24.33. 3,033,333 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,950,564. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $25.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.91 and a beta of 1.14. Huntsman has a one year low of $22.14 and a one year high of $29.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Huntsman Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Huntsman’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. Huntsman’s payout ratio is 188.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HUN. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Huntsman from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Huntsman from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Huntsman from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Huntsman from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Huntsman presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.55.

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.