Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by AlphaMark Advisors LLC

AlphaMark Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 252 shares during the quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 142.1% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CE. Citigroup lowered their price target on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.41.

Celanese Stock Down 2.4 %

NYSE CE traded down $3.21 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $131.68. 668,484 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 719,497. The company has a 50 day moving average of $149.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market cap of $14.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.25, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $109.38 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. 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.