1,554 Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Acquired by OLD National Bancorp IN

OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,596,947,000 after buying an additional 323,862 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Celanese by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $795,835,000 after purchasing an additional 570,501 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Celanese by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,022,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $379,343,000 after purchasing an additional 230,275 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Celanese by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 902,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $113,235,000 after purchasing an additional 42,124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Celanese by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 884,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,030,000 after purchasing an additional 13,149 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly purchased 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $153.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.76. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $99.33 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CE. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.56.

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.