Xponance Inc. Buys 3,592 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,592 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Piper Sandler cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.13.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $139.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.35. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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.