Fisher Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL)

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 92,441 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,626 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Hexcel were worth $5,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Hexcel by 2.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,835,994 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $302,008,000 after purchasing an additional 136,290 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hexcel by 277.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,695,343 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $105,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,765 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Hexcel by 36.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,600,619 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $98,966,000 after purchasing an additional 425,402 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Hexcel by 8.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,406,287 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $87,829,000 after purchasing an additional 103,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hexcel by 12.5% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,161,415 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $71,810,000 after purchasing an additional 129,335 shares in the last quarter. 95.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on HXL. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Hexcel from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Hexcel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Hexcel from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $76.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Hexcel from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Hexcel from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.58.

Hexcel Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:HXL opened at $62.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.83, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Hexcel Co. has a 1 year low of $57.50 and a 1 year high of $77.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.40.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $457.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $457.07 million. Hexcel had a return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 5.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Hexcel Co. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hexcel Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Hexcel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.80%.

Hexcel 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.