Sterneck Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Sterneck Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CE. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 9,649 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,499,000 after acquiring an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 11,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,721,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth $229,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Celanese by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,797,000 after acquiring an additional 1,675 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Celanese stock opened at $133.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company’s 50-day moving average is $129.29 and its 200 day moving average is $143.58.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on CE. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.13.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were 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 approximately $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About Celanese

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.