Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 89 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 17.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 89 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $58,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $78,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Celanese by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,009,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,805,000 after purchasing an additional 56,085 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 106,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,018,000 after buying an additional 5,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 6,905 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Up 2.7 %

Celanese stock opened at $123.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.45 billion, a PE ratio of 6.78, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $110.76 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $131.66 and its 200 day moving average is $146.01. 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 (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

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

Celanese 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.