Scientech Research LLC Invests $255,000 in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Celanese by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,560,608,000 after acquiring an additional 90,206 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,031,776,000 after purchasing an additional 354,367 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Celanese by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,761,567,000 after purchasing an additional 329,740 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Celanese by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,325,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Celanese by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,058,447,000 after buying an additional 21,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Celanese Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of CE opened at $135.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.04.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.13.

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.