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

Procyon Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 149 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CE. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 51.0% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after buying an additional 3,431 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,627 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $804,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 5.8% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1.5% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 13,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 12.8% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 37,618 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,374,000 after buying an additional 4,265 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.28.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock traded up $0.75 on Thursday, hitting $170.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 28,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 707,425. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $152.71 and its 200-day moving average is $139.60. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.33 and a fifty-two week high of $171.38. The company has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.35.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.64%.

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.