Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 5,694 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,956 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 5,694 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $6,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Celanese by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 0.6% in the first quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 13,733 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,360,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 17,620 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Celanese Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Celanese stock traded down $1.40 on Friday, reaching $120.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,048,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 748,470. The company has a market capitalization of $13.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $110.76 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $132.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.81.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.17 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CE. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective 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. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.