Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Has $145,000 Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators cut its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Celanese were worth $145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CE. LPL Financial LLC increased its position 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 512.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 118,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,064,000 after acquiring an additional 98,860 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Celanese by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,560,608,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its position in Celanese by 4,024.9% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 59,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,293,000 after purchasing an additional 58,441 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.59.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $92.02 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.05 billion, a PE ratio of 5.26, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $128.06 and a 200-day moving average of $137.49. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $90.51 and a 12 month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. 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 firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.