Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Position Increased by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 528.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 219,095 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.24% of Celanese worth $35,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Celanese in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc lifted its position in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’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 transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $123.14 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $13.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.78, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.79.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given 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 2.27%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

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.