Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate HII “Moderate Buy”: Five analysts recommend buying the stock and five rate it a hold, with an average 12-month price target of $368.88.
• Quarterly results exceeded expectations: Huntington Ingalls reported $5.27 in EPS and $3.42 billion in revenue, surpassing estimates while revenue increased 10.9% year over year.
• Shares have declined recently: HII opened at $281.26, down 2.2%, while CEO Christopher Kastner sold $4.25 million of stock under a pre-arranged trading plan; the company also announced a $1.38 quarterly dividend.

Shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $368.8750.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on HII shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $364.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $349.00 to $379.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher Kastner sold 13,070 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.92, for a total value of $4,246,704.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,224 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,646,902.08. This represents a 53.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bayban purchased a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 140.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 108 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 90.46% of the company's stock.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Down 2.2%

HII opened at $281.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a fifty-two week low of $263.62 and a fifty-two week high of $460.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $297.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $337.25.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The aerospace company reported $5.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $1.48. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 5.01%.The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.86 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 18.47 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Huntington Ingalls Industries's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.90%.

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.

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