Mather Group LLC. Increases Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Celanese Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:CE opened at $136.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.49, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $110.76 and a 52 week 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 50 day moving average of $128.85 and a 200 day moving average of $141.93.

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 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 business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.