Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Upgraded to “Neutral” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $400.00 target price on the aerospace company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $300.00.

Several other analysts also recently commented on HII. Melius Research raised shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $450.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $421.00 target price on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their target price on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $370.38.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Performance

Shares of HII stock opened at $406.55 on Thursday. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a fifty-two week low of $159.41 and a fifty-two week high of $436.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $376.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $317.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.45, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.34.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The aerospace company reported $4.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.32. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 4.85%.The business had revenue of $3.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 13.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s payout ratio is currently 35.91%.

Insider Transactions at Huntington Ingalls Industries

In other news, VP Edmond E. Jr. Hughes sold 850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.44, for a total value of $268,124.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,754,106.64. This trade represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 787 shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.17, for a total value of $247,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 20,441 shares in the company, valued at $6,421,948.97. The trade was a 3.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,201 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,489,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC acquired a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the 4th quarter valued at $368,000. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 3,070 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,257 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 4th quarter worth $2,448,000. 90.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.