Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,698 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,380 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Celanese worth $15,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock traded down $2.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $121.46. The stock had a trading volume of 1,082,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 746,660. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.76 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $133.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.23. The firm has a market cap of $13.27 billion, a PE ratio of 6.76, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. Celanese's payout ratio is 15.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America cut their price target on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $153.13.

Celanese 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.