Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Sells 113,780 Shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. $HII

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lowered its holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) by 35.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 210,765 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 113,780 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Huntington Ingalls Industries were worth $71,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HII. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Wealth Quarterback LLC increased its position in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 1,464 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,591 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,262,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478 shares during the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Huntington Ingalls Industries during the 4th quarter valued at $201,000. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 4th quarter valued at $312,000. 90.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HII has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $300.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Huntington Ingalls Industries from $384.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $384.13.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Price Performance

NYSE:HII opened at $368.04 on Tuesday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $417.96 and a 200-day moving average of $352.58. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $177.42 and a 52 week high of $460.00. The company has a market capitalization of $14.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.32.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The aerospace company reported $4.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $3.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a net margin of 4.85% and a return on equity of 12.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. will post 13.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a $1.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $5.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Huntington Ingalls Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Huntington Ingalls Industries news, EVP Eric D. Chewning sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.44, for a total value of $736,848.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,949 shares in the company, valued at $844,774.56. This represents a 46.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Chad N. Boudreaux sold 4,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.45, for a total value of $1,858,780.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 20,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,601,082. This represents a 17.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Company Profile

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.