Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 687 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 134,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 687 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.12% of Celanese worth $18,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the third quarter worth approximately $204,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Celanese by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 9,126 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,241,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its stake in Celanese by 7.9% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 30,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,099,000 after buying an additional 2,217 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $91.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $128.78 and a 200 day moving average of $137.81. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CE. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.