Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 1,991 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board decreased its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 34.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,741 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,991 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Celanese were worth $581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 83.7% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 180.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 142.1% during the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly acquired 1,400 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Celanese from $153.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.78.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $152.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.37. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $103.23 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. Celanese’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

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.