Quent Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 142.1% during the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CE stock traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $127.09. 1,443,074 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 738,524. The business’s fifty day moving average is $139.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $110.76 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30.

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 return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Celanese in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.75.

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.