Calamos Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,369 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Celanese worth $8,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth approximately $49,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CE. Mizuho boosted their target price on Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were 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 $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE traded up $2.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $131.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 725,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,324. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.26, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.36.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.73%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Celanese's payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

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.