Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) to Overweight

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Hexcel (NYSE:HXL - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $95.00 price target on the aerospace company's stock, up from their prior price target of $81.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Hexcel from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Hexcel from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Northcoast Research lowered Hexcel from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Hexcel in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Hexcel from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $66.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $77.57.

Hexcel Stock Up 2.1 %

HXL traded up $1.47 on Wednesday, reaching $72.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,458,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 965,841. Hexcel has a 1 year low of $58.81 and a 1 year high of $79.08. The business's 50 day moving average is $69.58 and its 200 day moving average is $69.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.25.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44. The business had revenue of $472.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.93 million. Hexcel had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 8.97%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hexcel will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Hexcel's payout ratio is currently 51.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Catherine A. Suever bought 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $68.33 per share, with a total value of $27,332.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,076,060.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Hexcel news, Director Catherine A. Suever purchased 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $68.33 per share, with a total value of $27,332.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,076,060.84. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.13 per share, for a total transaction of $641,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,141,706.39. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 43,400 shares of company stock worth $2,820,322. 1.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in Hexcel by 68.1% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 442 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in Hexcel in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Hexcel during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. RiverPark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Hexcel during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hexcel in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.47% of the company's stock.

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.