Foster & Motley Inc. Has $331,000 Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Foster & Motley Inc. reduced its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 47.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,888 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in Celanese by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC increased its position in Celanese by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Celanese by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in Celanese by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 14,521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 51.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly purchased 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

CE opened at $155.45 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $158.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.68. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $99.33 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.64%.

About Celanese

Celanese Corporation, a chemical and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain. The Engineered Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies specialty polymers for automotive and medical applications, as well as for use in industrial products and consumer electronics.