Cerity Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 45.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,908 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 155.5% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,049,000 after buying an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its holdings in Celanese by 21.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after acquiring an additional 41,598 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 447.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,781 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Celanese by 608.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CE. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.59.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $73.21 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $111.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.55. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.38 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

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.