Sanctuary Advisors LLC Sells 3,772 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 35.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,772 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Celanese by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after buying an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $353,145,000 after buying an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,663,000 after acquiring an additional 150,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Celanese by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $146,426,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE CE opened at $68.25 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $92.03 and its 200 day moving average is $118.86. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $66.73 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of 6.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on CE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note 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 report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.50.

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.