Fruth Investment Management Sells 500 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Fruth Investment Management lowered its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in Celanese in the second quarter worth $28,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 0.4 %

Celanese stock opened at $135.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of 7.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on CE. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.