SG Americas Securities LLC Cuts Stock Position in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL)

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its holdings in shares of Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) by 94.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,237 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 38,910 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Hexcel were worth $165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Hexcel by 838.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,810,199 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $400,780,000 after buying an additional 6,084,592 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Hexcel during the fourth quarter worth about $56,738,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Hexcel during the third quarter worth about $39,213,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Hexcel by 6.0% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,420,295 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $500,755,000 after buying an additional 475,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Hexcel by 11.2% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,409,631 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $202,771,000 after buying an additional 344,711 shares in the last quarter. 95.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Hexcel from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Hexcel from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (down from $75.00) on shares of Hexcel in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Hexcel from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $57.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Hexcel from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.57.

Hexcel Price Performance

HXL stock opened at $61.50 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.60, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.23. Hexcel Co. has a twelve month low of $58.81 and a twelve month high of $79.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The aerospace company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $457.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $474.01 million. Hexcel had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 9.31%. Hexcel’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hexcel Co. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Hexcel Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This is a boost from Hexcel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Hexcel’s dividend payout ratio is 48.39%.

Insider Transactions at Hexcel

In other news, insider Thierry Merlot sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.63, for a total transaction of $322,335.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,608,074.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Thierry Merlot sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.63, for a total transaction of $322,335.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,608,074.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Gina Fitzsimons sold 864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.10, for a total value of $62,294.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,337.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

About Hexcel

Hexcel Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets carbon fibers, structural reinforcements, honeycomb structures, resins, and composite materials and parts for use in commercial aerospace, space and defense, and industrial applications. It operates through two segments, Composite Materials and Engineered Products.