Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Curbstone Financial Management Corp

Curbstone Financial Management Corp reduced its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 13,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 17,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CE. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup dropped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Celanese Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:CE opened at $133.90 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $110.76 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $129.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.37, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.