Bank of America Upgrades Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) to “Neutral”

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) was upgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $400.00 price objective on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $300.00. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential downside of 4.44% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on HII. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $384.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $287.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $450.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $370.38.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE HII opened at $418.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.43 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.34. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a one year low of $159.41 and a one year high of $436.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $378.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $318.64.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The aerospace company reported $4.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $3.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 4.85%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 13.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntington Ingalls Industries

In other news, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 787 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.17, for a total transaction of $247,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 20,441 shares in the company, valued at $6,421,948.97. The trade was a 3.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Edmond E. Jr. Hughes sold 850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.44, for a total transaction of $268,124.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,754,106.64. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Ingalls Industries

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 38,526.6% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,986,567 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $675,572,000 after purchasing an additional 1,981,424 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 509.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 586,929 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $168,983,000 after purchasing an additional 490,587 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,646,733 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $560,004,000 after purchasing an additional 400,428 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $93,332,000. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc CT bought a new position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 2nd quarter worth $80,047,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

About Huntington Ingalls Industries

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a leading provider of professional services to the U.S. government. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII designs, constructs and maintains nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, submarines and other complex vessels for the U.S. Navy. The company’s products include nuclear aircraft carriers, Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines, as well as amphibious assault ships, destroyers and cutters.

Established in 2011 as a spin-off from Northrop Grumman’s shipbuilding operations, HII traces its heritage to two historic builders: Newport News Shipbuilding, founded in the 19th century, and Ingalls Shipbuilding, founded in 1938.