Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Position Cut by Versor Investments LP

Versor Investments LP trimmed its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 77.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,014 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Celanese were worth $313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the second quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the second quarter worth about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $73.78 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $72.78 and a one year high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.06 billion, a PE ratio of 7.42, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $121.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.88.

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 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 company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is 28.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 6.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on Celanese from $151.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.35.

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.