Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) Short Interest Update

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 880,600 shares, an increase of 17.1% from the November 15th total of 751,800 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 503,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP D R. Wyatt sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.24, for a total value of $82,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,627 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,028,245.48. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Ingalls Industries

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,519,111 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $930,383,000 after acquiring an additional 187,411 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $455,222,000 after purchasing an additional 863,800 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 5,036 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 41.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 732,587 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $180,458,000 after buying an additional 215,362 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 638,680 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $157,326,000 after buying an additional 11,693 shares during the last quarter. 90.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

NYSE:HII traded up $6.13 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $198.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 747,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 356,908. 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 $7.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.85, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.55. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a twelve month low of $184.29 and a twelve month high of $299.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.30.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The aerospace company reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.84 by ($1.28). Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.70 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 14.01 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. This is a positive change from Huntington Ingalls Industries's previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Huntington Ingalls Industries's payout ratio is presently 30.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on HII shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $226.00 to $194.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $275.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of 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. Finally, TD Cowen cut Huntington Ingalls Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Huntington Ingalls Industries currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $228.89.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Company Profile

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.