Insider Selling: Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) Insider Sells 8,897 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Thierry Merlot, an insider at Hexcel Corporation, sold 8,897 shares at an average price of $63.86, reducing their ownership by 14.78% in the company.
• Hexcel reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50, exceeding expectations, but showed a 2.1% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.850-2.050 EPS and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.17, reflecting a dividend yield of 1.0%.

Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL - Get Free Report) insider Thierry Merlot sold 8,897 shares of the 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 sale, the insider directly owned 51,308 shares in the company, valued at $3,276,528.88. This represents a 14.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Hexcel Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE HXL traded up $1.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.79. 1,212,441 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,166,551. Hexcel Corporation has a twelve month low of $45.28 and a twelve month high of $71.05. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.99, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.38. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $60.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $0.50 earnings per share (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 company 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 business 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hexcel Corporation will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 payout ratio is currently 62.96%.

Institutional Trading of Hexcel

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Hexcel by 4.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,690,924 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $264,990,000 after acquiring an additional 191,649 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Hexcel by 32.4% during the first 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Hexcel by 103.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,759,673 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $155,894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,538 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in Hexcel by 49.1% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,440,242 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $137,850,000 after acquiring an additional 803,123 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Hexcel by 5.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,283,626 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $129,002,000 after acquiring an additional 126,338 shares during the period. 95.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on HXL. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Hexcel from $52.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group raised Hexcel from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Hexcel from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Hexcel in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.

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