Procyon Advisors LLC Has $1.01 Million Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Procyon Advisors LLC lessened its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 149 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Celanese by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp acquired a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 83.7% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 180.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly purchased 1,400 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly acquired 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Celanese from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Celanese from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.28.

Celanese Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE CE traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $170.39. 28,599 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 707,425. The company’s 50-day moving average is $152.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.60. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $99.33 and a one year high of $171.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.35.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.64%.

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.