Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $343.6250.

A number of analysts have recently commented on HII shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $384.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $376.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Huntington Ingalls Industries news, CEO Christopher D. Kastner sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.06, for a total value of $4,815,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 68,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,876,707.34. This represents a 18.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 787 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.17, for a total value of $247,251.79. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 20,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,421,948.97. This represents a 3.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 17,103 shares of company stock worth $5,477,768 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Huntington Ingalls Industries

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,047,205 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $252,403,000 after buying an additional 16,236 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 5.9% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 966,622 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $278,272,000 after acquiring an additional 54,139 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 901,140 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $259,447,000 after acquiring an additional 6,046 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 670,268 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $192,977,000 after acquiring an additional 76,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 666,440 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $160,919,000 after purchasing an additional 25,737 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Trading Up 2.2%

Huntington Ingalls Industries stock opened at $422.61 on Wednesday. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 12-month low of $158.88 and a 12-month high of $432.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a PE ratio of 29.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $352.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $305.60.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The aerospace company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.95 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 4.74%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 13.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.