Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Weatherly Asset Management L. P.

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. cut its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 5.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 551 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $363,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 16.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 25.3% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 2,923 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 109.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 12,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 41.4% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 128,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,071,000 after purchasing an additional 37,577 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $124.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 7.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $114.05 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.91.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.44.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Company Profile

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.