Citigroup Inc. Sells 70,054 Shares of Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL)

Citigroup Inc. lowered its position in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 125,431 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 70,054 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Hexcel were worth $7,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Hexcel by 2.9% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,835,994 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $302,008,000 after purchasing an additional 136,290 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hexcel by 277.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,695,343 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $105,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,765 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Hexcel by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,600,619 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $98,966,000 after acquiring an additional 425,402 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Hexcel by 8.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,406,287 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $87,829,000 after purchasing an additional 103,679 shares during the period. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hexcel by 12.5% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,161,415 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $71,810,000 after purchasing an additional 129,335 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on HXL. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Hexcel from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Vertical Research downgraded Hexcel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Hexcel from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hexcel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Hexcel from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.58.

Hexcel Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of HXL stock opened at $63.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.12 and its 200 day moving average is $63.39. Hexcel Co. has a 12-month low of $57.50 and a 12-month high of $77.09.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. Hexcel had a return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 5.73%. The company had revenue of $457.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $457.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Hexcel’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Hexcel Co. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Hexcel’s payout ratio is 45.80%.

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.