Franklin Resources Inc. Has $3.07 Million Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,868 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $3,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 27.4% in 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 period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Celanese by 608.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after buying an additional 592,196 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 528.9% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,142,000 after buying an additional 219,095 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after buying an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after buying an additional 150,201 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Barclays reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. KeyCorp cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.50.

Celanese Stock Down 1.2 %

Celanese stock opened at $68.40 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $66.73 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. Celanese’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

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.