Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Acquires 4,964 Shares of Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 225,878 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,964 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Hexcel were worth $13,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HXL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Hexcel by 151.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 344,342 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $25,086,000 after purchasing an additional 207,434 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Hexcel by 32.2% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 80,953 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,897,000 after acquiring an additional 19,736 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Hexcel during the 1st quarter worth about $1,109,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Hexcel by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 885,547 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $64,512,000 after purchasing an additional 124,900 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Hexcel by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,318,541 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $96,056,000 after purchasing an additional 82,473 shares during the last quarter. 95.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hexcel Price Performance

HXL stock traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.75. The stock had a trading volume of 151,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 870,743. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.17. Hexcel Co. has a 52 week low of $57.50 and a 52 week high of $77.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.29.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $457.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $457.07 million. Hexcel had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 9.99%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hexcel Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Hexcel’s payout ratio is currently 45.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on HXL. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Hexcel from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Hexcel from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Hexcel from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Hexcel from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Hexcel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.46.

Hexcel 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.