Raymond James Financial Inc. Decreases Stake in Hexcel Corporation $HXL

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Hexcel Corporation by 3.5% in Q1, holding 109,136 shares worth approximately $5.98 million following the sale of 3,966 shares.
• Hexcel has seen substantial increases in holdings from several institutional investors, with Farther Finance Advisors LLC raising their stake by 71.2% and MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increasing theirs by 698.6%.
• Equities research analysts have set a new average target price for Hexcel at $65.00, with BMO Capital Markets raising their target from $52.00 to $67.00 and UBS Group upgrading their rating from "neutral" to "buy."

Raymond James Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,136 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 3,966 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.14% of Hexcel worth $5,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HXL. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hexcel by 416.9% during 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 buying an additional 940,839 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Hexcel by 10,767.3% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 392,091 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $21,471,000 after purchasing an additional 388,483 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Hexcel in the 1st quarter worth approximately $13,929,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Hexcel by 214.3% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 359,067 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $19,663,000 after purchasing an additional 244,828 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Hexcel in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,890,000. 95.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hexcel

In other Hexcel news, insider Gina Fitzsimons sold 911 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $59,215.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 4,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $278,395. The trade was a 17.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Thierry Merlot sold 8,897 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.86, for a total value of $568,162.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,308 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,276,528.88. This represents a 14.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.03% of the company's stock.

Hexcel Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE HXL traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $63.06. 126,928 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,151,512. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.69. Hexcel Corporation has a 52 week low of $45.28 and a 52 week high of $71.05. The company has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.34, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.74.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL - Get Free Report) last released its 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 return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 4.69%.The business had revenue of $489.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $482.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Hexcel has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.850-2.050 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Hexcel Corporation will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Hexcel's payout ratio is 62.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HXL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Hexcel from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Hexcel in a research note on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group upgraded Hexcel from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Hexcel from $52.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Hexcel from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hexcel currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.00.

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.