Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 3,020 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Celanese by 124.0% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in Celanese by 1,395.3% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Celanese in the third quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $64.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $64.36 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued 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 return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.33.

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.