Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Hold Rating

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

HII has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $384.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Bank of America raised shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $300.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $450.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Melius Research raised Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.89.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HII opened at $392.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.36. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a twelve month low of $177.42 and a twelve month high of $460.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $416.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $353.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Huntington Ingalls Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s payout ratio is currently 35.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 4,400 shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.45, for a total value of $1,858,780.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 20,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,601,082. The trade was a 17.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric D. Chewning sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.44, for a total transaction of $736,848.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 1,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $844,774.56. This trade represents a 46.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Ingalls Industries

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HII. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 108 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 400.0% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 88 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 120.0% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.