Fairscale Capital LLC Takes $28,000 Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,560,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,910,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank increased its stake in Celanese by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Celanese by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 136,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,244,000 after purchasing an additional 4,644 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $126.90 on Monday. 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 $13.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $130.51 and its 200-day moving average is $144.85. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.