Hexcel Co. (HXL) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 2nd

Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the aerospace company on Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd.

Hexcel has raised its dividend payment by an average of 43.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Hexcel has a dividend payout ratio of 20.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Hexcel to earn $2.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.6%.

Hexcel Price Performance

HXL stock opened at $65.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of 55.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.41. Hexcel has a 1 year low of $58.81 and a 1 year high of $79.08.

Hexcel (NYSE:HXL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44. The company had revenue of $472.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.93 million. Hexcel had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 5.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hexcel will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on HXL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Hexcel in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on Hexcel from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Hexcel from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Northcoast Research lowered Hexcel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (down from $75.00) on shares of Hexcel in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.57.

Insider Activity at Hexcel

In other news, CEO Nick L. Stanage purchased 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.29 per share, for a total transaction of $964,350.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 392,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,230,353.34. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nick L. Stanage purchased 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.29 per share, for a total transaction of $964,350.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 392,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,230,353.34. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey C. Campbell acquired 10,000 shares of Hexcel stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.13 per share, for a total transaction of $641,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,803 shares in the company, valued at $1,141,706.39. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

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.