Verity Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. $HII

Verity Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) by 54.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,432 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries were worth $487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 88 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 363.3% during the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HII has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $384.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Melius Research upgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $421.00 price target on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 4,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.45, for a total value of $1,858,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 20,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,601,082. The trade was a 17.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric D. Chewning sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.44, for a total transaction of $736,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 1,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $844,774.56. This trade represents a 46.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE HII opened at $364.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $404.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $368.53. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. has a 52-week low of $215.04 and a 52-week high of $460.00.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The aerospace company reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $3.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 4.85%.Huntington Ingalls Industries’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. will post 17.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s payout ratio is 35.91%.

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.