Rhumbline Advisers Has $28.15 Million Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 208,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,923 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.19% of Celanese worth $28,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CE. Versor Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 10,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Celanese by 12.6% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 50,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,873,000 after acquiring an additional 5,694 shares during the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Celanese during the second quarter worth about $1,416,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.8% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $120.05 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $132.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $13.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released 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). 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.17 EPS. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 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.