Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,827 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its position in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the second quarter valued at $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CE. Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays cut 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 report on Tuesday, August 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.44.

Celanese Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:CE opened at $124.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.91. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $114.05 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $13.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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 13.60%. Celanese’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.94%.

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.