Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,370,000 shares, a growth of 6.2% from the August 31st total of 1,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 799,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HXL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Hexcel from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Hexcel from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Hexcel from $86.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Hexcel from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Hexcel from $73.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hexcel has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.46.

Institutional Trading of Hexcel

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HXL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Hexcel in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Hexcel by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Hexcel during the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Hexcel by 34.8% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hexcel in the first quarter valued at $119,000. 95.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hexcel Stock Performance

Shares of HXL traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.84. 665,710 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 877,779. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.75. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $62.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.29. Hexcel has a 12 month low of $58.54 and a 12 month high of $77.09.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The aerospace company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. Hexcel had a return on equity of 9.55% and a net margin of 5.78%. The firm had revenue of $500.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $484.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Hexcel will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Hexcel’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.28%.

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.