Hanlon Investment Management Inc. Has $279,000 Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Hanlon Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 12.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,068 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Key Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.13.

Celanese Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE CE traded down $1.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $120.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,048,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 748,470. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $132.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.83. The company has a market capitalization of $13.11 billion, a PE ratio of 6.61, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.