Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Has $209,000 Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 164 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the second quarter worth $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Celanese in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth about $49,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their price target on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.87.

Celanese Stock Up 0.4 %

CE opened at $135.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $110.76 and a one year high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $129.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.67.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced 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). The business 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%. Celanese’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese 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 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.