Quest Partners LLC Purchases 11,854 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 197,566.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,860 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,854 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note 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. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Celanese currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $153.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were 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 $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE CE traded down $1.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $119.11. 1,405,132 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 754,278. The stock has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.58. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $110.76 and a one year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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 13.60%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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 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 2.35%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.