Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Has $51.06 Million Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 378,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,732 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.35% of Celanese worth $51,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $126.90 on Monday. 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 $13.86 billion, a PE ratio of 6.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $130.51 and its 200-day moving average is $144.85. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its 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 business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. Celanese’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.17 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on 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 decreased their target price 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 assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.13.

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.