Short Interest in Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) Decreases By 43.4%

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,160,000 shares, a decline of 43.4% from the March 31st total of 17,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Currently, 5.9% of the company's stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hawaiian Electric Industries

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HE. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Hawaiian Electric Industries during the 4th quarter worth $115,010,000. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $23,153,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries by 656.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,722,668 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,499,000 after buying an additional 2,362,863 shares during the last quarter. Burkehill Global Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $19,460,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries by 165.6% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,043,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $19,885,000 after buying an additional 1,274,119 shares during the last quarter. 59.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Hawaiian Electric Industries from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $14.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hawaiian Electric Industries currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.00.

Hawaiian Electric Industries Stock Down 0.1 %

HE stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $10.22. 1,316,486 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,456,555. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $10.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.13. Hawaiian Electric Industries has a 1-year low of $7.61 and a 1-year high of $18.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.86 and a beta of 0.64.

Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.19). Hawaiian Electric Industries had a positive return on equity of 11.12% and a negative net margin of 35.38%. The firm had revenue of $799.18 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hawaiian Electric Industries will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

About Hawaiian Electric Industries

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the electric utility businesses in the United States. It operates in three segments: Electric Utility, Bank, and Other. The Electric Utility segment engages in the production, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai.