Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 3,703 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 242,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,703 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $32,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese by 125.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Celanese by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in Celanese by 54.6% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,538 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $758,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays reduced 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.13.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $129.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $135.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.84. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $110.76 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $14.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.73%. The business’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.