Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) Short Interest Down 46.0% in September

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 567,100 shares, a drop of 46.0% from the August 31st total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 317,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $280.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $275.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Ingalls Industries

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HII. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,312,383 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $600,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,798 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 914,410 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $225,247,000 after purchasing an additional 126,654 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 41.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 732,587 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $180,458,000 after purchasing an additional 215,362 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.9% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 638,680 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $157,326,000 after purchasing an additional 11,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 8.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 521,426 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $128,443,000 after buying an additional 40,942 shares in the last quarter. 90.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

Huntington Ingalls Industries stock traded up $3.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $260.36. The company had a trading volume of 397,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 312,080. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 12-month low of $199.11 and a 12-month high of $299.50. The company has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $268.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $265.11.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The aerospace company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 16.57 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s payout ratio is 29.31%.

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.