First Eagle Investment Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) by 12.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 101,346 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 14,500 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.12% of Hexcel worth $6,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Hexcel by 151.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 344,342 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $25,086,000 after purchasing an additional 207,434 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Hexcel in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,185,000. Evoke Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hexcel during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,036,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hexcel by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 80,953 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $5,897,000 after acquiring an additional 19,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hexcel in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,109,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Hexcel from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Hexcel from $73.00 to $71.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Hexcel from $73.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Hexcel from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $76.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Hexcel from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.54.

Hexcel Price Performance

HXL stock opened at $61.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.28. Hexcel Co. has a 52-week low of $58.54 and a 52-week high of $77.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The aerospace company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $500.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $484.26 million. Hexcel had a return on equity of 9.55% and a net margin of 5.78%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Hexcel Co. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Hexcel Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Hexcel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.28%.

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.