Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Stock Crosses Above 50 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $279.14 and traded as high as $281.36. Huntington Ingalls Industries shares last traded at $280.7580, with a volume of 386,159 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HII. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $364.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $327.00 to $304.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $360.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $361.75.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Up 2.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $11.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.21. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $279.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $337.75.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The aerospace company reported $5.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $1.48. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 12.89%. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.86 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. will post 18.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 27th will be given a dividend of $1.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 27th. This is an increase from Huntington Ingalls Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $5.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Huntington Ingalls Industries news, CEO Christopher Kastner sold 13,070 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.92, for a total value of $4,246,704.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,646,902.08. This trade represents a 53.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Ingalls Industries

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HII. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $944,877,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the second quarter worth $75,094,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the second quarter worth $64,769,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 8.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,922,717 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $818,039,000 after purchasing an additional 227,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the second quarter worth $55,449,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

About Huntington Ingalls Industries

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc (NYSE:HII) is an American defense company that designs, builds, maintains and modernizes ships for the U.S. Navy and other government customers. Its shipbuilding activities include nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, submarines, amphibious assault ships, destroyers and other surface vessels, along with fleet sustainment and modernization services.

HII operates through its Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions. Newport News Shipbuilding is involved in the construction and maintenance of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, while Ingalls Shipbuilding builds surface combatants and amphibious ships.