PFG Investments LLC Sells 79 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

PFG Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,797 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 79 shares during the quarter. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CE. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Celanese in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its position in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock opened at $127.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $13.87 billion, a PE ratio of 6.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.09. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

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.