Sei Investments Co. Sells 2,005 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Sei Investments Co. decreased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,005 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $4,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $135.02 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $129.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.89. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.39, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.