Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 12,711 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 12,711 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Celanese were worth $14,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $139.29 on Friday. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.67, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $129.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.22.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.17 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

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 2.01%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

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 stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.