Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Acquired by Menard Financial Group LLC

Menard Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 25.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. KeyCorp decreased their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $123.14 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $131.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.77. The company 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 (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.