Raymond James & Associates Increases Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,996 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,862 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.07% of Celanese worth $9,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.0% during the fourth 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 stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Celanese stock traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $131.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 560,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,278. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $134.78 and a 200-day moving average of $148.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $14.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.26, a P/E/G 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.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid 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 yield of 2.13%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 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 price target on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.13.

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.