Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Makes New $48.69 Million Investment in Hexcel Corporation $HXL

Key Points

• Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. made a new investment in Hexcel Corporation, acquiring approximately $48.69 million worth of shares in the second quarter, representing about 1.07% ownership of the company.
• Several other institutional investors also increased their holdings in Hexcel, with 95.47% of the company's stock now owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts upgraded Hexcel’s stock ratings, with UBS raising its price target from $65.00 to $80.00, while Zacks raised their rating from "strong sell" to "hold."

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 861,995 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $48,694,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 1.07% of Hexcel as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HXL. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hexcel in the 1st quarter worth about $61,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Hexcel by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,292 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Hexcel by 71.2% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Hexcel by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 26,023 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Hexcel by 95.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Hexcel in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. UBS Group raised shares of Hexcel from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Hexcel from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Hexcel from $52.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Hexcel in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hexcel has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.00.

Hexcel Price Performance

NYSE HXL opened at $64.77 on Friday. Hexcel Corporation has a 52 week low of $45.28 and a 52 week high of $71.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock 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 50-day moving average price of $62.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.22.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 4.69% and a return on equity of 9.76%. The firm had revenue of $489.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $482.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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. Analysts forecast that Hexcel Corporation will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

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

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.

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