Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) Receives Average Recommendation of "Reduce" from Analysts

Shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" by the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $228.89.

HII has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $226.00 to $194.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $290.00 to $220.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $250.00 to $195.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP D R. Wyatt sold 400 shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.24, for a total value of $82,096.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 19,627 shares in the company, valued at $4,028,245.48. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Ingalls Industries

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HII. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,519,111 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $930,383,000 after purchasing an additional 187,411 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 94.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,778,210 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $455,222,000 after buying an additional 863,800 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,018,812 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $268,520,000 after buying an additional 5,036 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 732,587 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $180,458,000 after acquiring an additional 215,362 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 638,680 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $157,326,000 after acquiring an additional 11,693 shares in the last quarter. 90.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

Shares of HII traded up $6.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $208.73. The stock had a trading volume of 214,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,641. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.56. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $193.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $235.23. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 52 week low of $184.29 and a 52 week high of $299.50.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The aerospace company reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.84 by ($1.28). The business had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.70 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. This is an increase from Huntington Ingalls Industries's previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Huntington Ingalls Industries's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.49%.

About Huntington Ingalls Industries

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc designs, builds, overhauls, and repairs military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls, Newport News, and Mission Technologies. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S.