Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) to Issue $0.15 Quarterly Dividend

Hexcel Co. (NYSE:HXL) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid 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 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd.

Hexcel has raised its dividend by an average of 43.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Hexcel has a payout ratio of 20.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of HXL opened at $64.21 on Wednesday. Hexcel has a 52 week low of $58.81 and a 52 week high of $79.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.74. The company has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a PE ratio of 54.88, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $70.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.41.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HXL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Hexcel from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Northcoast Research downgraded Hexcel from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective (down previously from $75.00) on shares of Hexcel in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Hexcel from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $70.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Hexcel from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hexcel news, insider Thierry Merlot sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.63, for a total transaction of $322,335.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,608,074.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Thierry Merlot sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.63, for a total transaction of $322,335.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,371 shares in the company, valued at $3,608,074.73. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nick L. Stanage bought 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $64.29 per share, for a total transaction of $964,350.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 392,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,230,353.34. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 28,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,799,240 over the last three months. 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.