Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Purchases 5,360 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 311.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,080 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,360 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth $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 valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth $49,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on CE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, 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 research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was 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 owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Celanese Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $127.73 on Tuesday. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $13.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.64.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 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.