Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) saw strong trading volume on Friday . 219,582 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 31% from the previous session’s volume of 316,317 shares.The stock last traded at $187.51 and had previously closed at $184.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HII shares. StockNews.com downgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $280.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Vertical Research cut Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $226.00 to $194.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $241.88.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $260.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The aerospace company reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.84 by ($1.28). The company had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.89%. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. will post 16.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $1.35 dividend. This is a boost from Huntington Ingalls Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.36%.

Institutional Trading of Huntington Ingalls Industries

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 8.2% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 525 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 9.1% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 492 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 1.6% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,625 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 320 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank lifted its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 359 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Company Profile

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.