Telemus Capital LLC Sells 8,162 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Telemus Capital LLC lowered its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,162 shares during the quarter. Telemus Capital LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $6,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 27,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,287,000 after buying an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,000,000. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at $447,000. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Celanese by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Celanese by 89.9% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 16,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 7,629 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Celanese

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CE shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America cut Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.56.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $154.83 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $158.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.19. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $99.33 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $16.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.65, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.47 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.64%.

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.