Sepio Capital LP Has $1.01 Million Position in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL)

Sepio Capital LP lowered its position in Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,733 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 376 shares during the quarter. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Hexcel were worth $1,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in shares of Hexcel by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 7,820 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in shares of Hexcel by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 15,819 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hexcel by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,714 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Hexcel by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,497 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. increased its position in Hexcel by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. now owns 203,494 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $15,008,000 after acquiring an additional 16,644 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hexcel

In other news, Director Catherine A. Suever bought 400 shares of Hexcel stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $68.33 per share, for a total transaction of $27,332.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,076,060.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Catherine A. Suever purchased 400 shares of Hexcel stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $68.33 per share, for a total transaction of $27,332.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,748 shares in the company, valued at $1,076,060.84. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Tom Gentile purchased 15,000 shares of Hexcel stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $66.25 per share, with a total value of $993,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,750. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 43,400 shares of company stock worth $2,820,322. 1.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on HXL. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Hexcel from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hexcel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Hexcel from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Hexcel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hexcel has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.57.

Hexcel Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:HXL traded up $1.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $70.53. 610,908 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,024,892. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Hexcel Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.81 and a fifty-two week high of $79.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.28, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.25.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.44. Hexcel had a net margin of 5.52% and a return on equity of 8.97%. The firm had revenue of $472.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $468.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Hexcel Co. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hexcel Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Hexcel’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.