Neumann Capital Management LLC Has $408,000 Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Neumann Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Neumann Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc raised its stake in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $73.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $123.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $72.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 6.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CE. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Celanese from $151.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. KeyCorp cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.35.

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.