Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Purchased by Seven Eight Capital LP

Seven Eight Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 279.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,915 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,304 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of CE traded down $2.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $127.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 775,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 759,852. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The company's 50-day moving average is $130.82 and its 200-day moving average is $145.14. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.17 EPS. The company's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.41%.

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.