Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

HII has been the subject of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $362.00 price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a research note on Friday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Melius Research raised Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $343.63.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Performance

Shares of HII opened at $420.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $359.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $308.40. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 12 month low of $158.88 and a 12 month high of $436.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Christopher D. Kastner sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.06, for a total value of $4,815,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 68,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,876,707.34. This represents a 18.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 787 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.17, for a total transaction of $247,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 20,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,421,948.97. This represents a 3.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,477,768. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Ingalls Industries

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 16.7% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 231 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 2,205 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 2,535 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

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.