Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Buys New Shares in Hexcel Corporation $HXL

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 861,995 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,694,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HXL. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 416.9% in the 1st quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,166,489 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $63,877,000 after acquiring an additional 940,839 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,314,702 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $181,514,000 after acquiring an additional 812,026 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 10,767.3% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 392,091 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $21,471,000 after acquiring an additional 388,483 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hexcel in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $13,929,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 214.3% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 359,067 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $19,663,000 after acquiring an additional 244,828 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hexcel

In other news, insider Gina Fitzsimons sold 911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $59,215.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,283 shares in the company, valued at $278,395. This represents a 17.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thierry Merlot sold 8,897 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.86, for a total transaction of $568,162.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,308 shares in the company, valued at $3,276,528.88. The trade was a 14.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Hexcel Stock Performance

Shares of HXL opened at $64.77 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $62.35 and its 200-day moving average is $57.22. Hexcel Corporation has a 12 month low of $45.28 and a 12 month high of $71.05. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. Hexcel had a net margin of 4.69% and a return on equity of 9.76%. The company had revenue of $489.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $482.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Hexcel’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Hexcel has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.850-2.050 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Hexcel Corporation will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Hexcel’s dividend payout ratio is 62.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hexcel in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Hexcel from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Hexcel from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hexcel from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Hexcel from $52.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.00.

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.