Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on HII. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $421.00 price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.22.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

HII stock opened at $394.44 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $413.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $359.82. The stock has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.36. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 1 year low of $207.36 and a 1 year high of $460.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.15 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 13.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Huntington Ingalls Industries

In other news, EVP Eric D. Chewning sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.44, for a total value of $736,848.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,774.56. This represents a 46.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 4,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.45, for a total transaction of $1,858,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 20,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,601,082. This represents a 17.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Ingalls Industries

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,971 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 231 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 821 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 2,205 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 90.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.