Caprock Group LLC Grows Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Caprock Group LLC grew its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 210.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,772 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,593 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CE. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.13.

Celanese Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $119.11 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $132.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.58.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.