Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 21.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,598 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Celanese were worth $31,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth $363,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 109.2% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 12,553 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,168,000. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,599 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 45.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut their price target on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Vertical Research lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.18.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $89.72 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $127.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $89.12 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

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.