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

Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,140,000 shares, a growth of 60.9% from the October 15th total of 1,330,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 718,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Hexcel Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of HXL stock opened at $59.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.45, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.76. Hexcel has a twelve month low of $57.50 and a twelve month high of $77.09.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The aerospace company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $457.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $457.07 million. Hexcel had a return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 5.73%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Hexcel will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Hexcel’s payout ratio is presently 45.80%.

Institutional Trading of Hexcel

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 5,357 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,859 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,440 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $542,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of Hexcel by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 955 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HXL. UBS Group increased their price target on Hexcel from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Hexcel from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Hexcel from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Hexcel from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Vertical Research lowered Hexcel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.54.

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.