Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 3,683 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,683 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $6,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 310,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,196,000 after purchasing an additional 35,898 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 12,553 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,011,000 after purchasing an additional 15,643 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 447.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 41.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 128,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,071,000 after purchasing an additional 37,577 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $129.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.84. The company has a market cap 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. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.73%. Celanese’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on CE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.13.

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.