Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lessened its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 23.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,143 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,362 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CE. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Key Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Celanese Trading Down 2.2 %

Celanese stock opened at $133.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $129.90 and its 200-day moving average is $140.45. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.32, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CE. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.87.

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.