Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Rating Lowered to Hold at Vertical Research

Vertical Research lowered shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $275.00 target price on the aerospace company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $280.00 to $285.00 in a report on Monday, September 9th. Wolfe Research lowered Huntington Ingalls Industries from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Huntington Ingalls Industries currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $290.00.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

HII stock opened at $259.39 on Thursday. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 52-week low of $212.58 and a 52-week high of $299.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $10.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average of $265.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $262.32.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The aerospace company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.77. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 6.35%. The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 16.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.31%.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Ingalls Industries

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HII. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 215,362 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 42.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 473,778 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $116,706,000 after buying an additional 140,338 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 16.1% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 914,410 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $225,247,000 after acquiring an additional 126,654 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT lifted its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 50.7% in the second quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 345,489 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $85,104,000 after acquiring an additional 116,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 289,434 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $71,418,000 after acquiring an additional 97,646 shares in the last quarter. 90.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.