Greenleaf Trust Purchases 325 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,329 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Celanese were worth $996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 2.7% in the 2nd 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. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.1% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in Celanese by 13.4% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CE. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America reduced their price objective 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. 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. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.87.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:CE opened at $129.80 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $130.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $140.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently 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.