Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Acquired by Holocene Advisors LP

Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 347,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,993 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Celanese were worth $47,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Celanese by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in Celanese by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,716,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd 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 during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock opened at $74.17 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.46, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.97. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $71.38 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.59.

About Celanese

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.