Short Interest in Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) Increases By 71.0%

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 969,900 shares, a growth of 71.0% from the September 15th total of 567,100 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 319,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on HII. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Huntington Ingalls Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $280.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Vertical Research lowered shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $290.00.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Up 0.5 %

HII stock traded up $1.25 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $260.64. 40,222 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 307,450. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 12-month low of $212.58 and a 12-month high of $299.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $265.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $262.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.52.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 6.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 16.56 EPS for the current year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Huntington Ingalls Industries

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries during the second quarter worth $26,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the third quarter worth about $29,000. American National Bank bought a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

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.