Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) Short Interest Up 19.2% in February

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 15,490,000 shares, a growth of 19.2% from the February 13th total of 12,990,000 shares. Approximately 9.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries from $11.50 to $10.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Institutional Trading of Hawaiian Electric Industries

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HE. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in Hawaiian Electric Industries by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 32,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Hawaiian Electric Industries by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new stake in Hawaiian Electric Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,233,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Hawaiian Electric Industries by 126.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 4,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hawaiian Electric Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at $239,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.91% of the company’s stock.

Hawaiian Electric Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:HE traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.02. 1,839,661 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,461,081. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.93 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.18 and a quick ratio of 0.18. Hawaiian Electric Industries has a 12-month low of $7.61 and a 12-month high of $18.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.17.

Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $799.18 million for the quarter. Hawaiian Electric Industries had a positive return on equity of 11.12% and a negative net margin of 35.38%. On average, research analysts predict that Hawaiian Electric Industries will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Hawaiian Electric Industries

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the electric utility businesses in the United States. It operates in three segments: Electric Utility, Bank, and Other. The Electric Utility segment engages in the production, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai.