GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 363 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 23.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price 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, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $134.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day moving average is $128.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.76 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.17 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.