Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Decreases Stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank decreased its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) by 70.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,996 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 16,565 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries were worth $1,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HII. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 75,182.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 492,349 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,004,590,000 after purchasing an additional 491,695 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1,648.4% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 375,872 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $71,029,000 after acquiring an additional 354,374 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 273.2% in the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 455,308 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $92,901,000 after acquiring an additional 333,308 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 4,900.7% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 210,480 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $39,774,000 after acquiring an additional 206,271 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 831,965 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $157,216,000 after acquiring an additional 204,376 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on HII. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $236.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Huntington Ingalls Industries has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $251.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Edmond E. Jr. Hughes sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.91, for a total value of $301,483.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,221,929.71. This trade represents a 11.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Anastasi D. Kelly sold 1,960 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.58, for a total transaction of $455,856.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,661.30. This represents a 10.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,225 shares of company stock valued at $1,207,207 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HII opened at $269.26 on Monday. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.88 and a fifty-two week high of $293.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.24. The company has a market capitalization of $10.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The aerospace company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.63. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. will post 13.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s payout ratio is presently 40.42%.

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.