Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Hawaiian Electric Industries Put Options (NYSE:HE)

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 8,337 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 91% compared to the typical volume of 4,361 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hawaiian Electric Industries presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.50.

Institutional Trading of Hawaiian Electric Industries

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HE. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Hawaiian Electric Industries during the third quarter worth $1,670,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Hawaiian Electric Industries during the fourth quarter worth $19,015,000. Advisor Partners II LLC boosted its holdings in Hawaiian Electric Industries by 2,321.4% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 174,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,146,000 after buying an additional 167,115 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Hawaiian Electric Industries during the third quarter worth $4,729,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Hawaiian Electric Industries by 1.0% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 240,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,965,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. 59.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hawaiian Electric Industries Stock Performance

Hawaiian Electric Industries stock traded down $1.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.52. 12,198,588 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,356,835. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. Hawaiian Electric Industries has a fifty-two week low of $8.74 and a fifty-two week high of $40.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $11.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.72.

Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48. Hawaiian Electric Industries had a net margin of 5.45% and a return on equity of 9.99%. The business had revenue of $961.40 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hawaiian Electric Industries will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Hawaiian Electric Industries

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the electric utility businesses in the United States. It operates in three segments: Electric Utility, Bank, and Other. The Electric Utility segment engages in the production, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai.