Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Headlands Technologies LLC

Headlands Technologies LLC lessened its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 55.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 436 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $55,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Celanese by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,596,947,000 after buying an additional 323,862 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 9.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $795,835,000 after acquiring an additional 570,501 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,022,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $379,343,000 after acquiring an additional 230,275 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Celanese by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 902,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $113,235,000 after purchasing an additional 42,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.56.

Celanese Stock Up 0.5 %

CE opened at $154.42 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $99.33 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $158.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.53.

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

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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. In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.