The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) Price Target to $78.00

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) had its price target raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on HXL. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Hexcel from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Hexcel from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Hexcel from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their target price for the company from $87.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Hexcel from $81.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Hexcel in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $77.14.

Hexcel Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of HXL opened at $61.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 49.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average is $71.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.65. Hexcel has a fifty-two week low of $58.81 and a fifty-two week high of $79.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

Hexcel Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. This is an increase from Hexcel’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Hexcel’s payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

Insider Transactions at Hexcel

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hexcel by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,171,181 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $625,933,000 after buying an additional 112,122 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hexcel by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,846,871 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $578,707,000 after purchasing an additional 27,850 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Hexcel by 838.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,810,199 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $400,780,000 after purchasing an additional 6,084,592 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Hexcel by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,344,230 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $282,983,000 after purchasing an additional 47,591 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Hexcel by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,409,631 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $202,771,000 after purchasing an additional 344,711 shares during the period. 95.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hexcel Company Profile

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.