Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Purchased by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 44.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth $155,102,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $795,835,000 after buying an additional 570,501 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 332.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 547,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,264,000 after buying an additional 421,200 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 39.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,354,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,845,000 after buying an additional 379,962 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,596,947,000 after buying an additional 323,862 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $124.00 to $135.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $155.78 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $157.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $99.33 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.64%.

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.