Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Acquires 780 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Celanese by 155.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after purchasing an additional 41,598 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 447.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,781 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Celanese by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 31,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,397,000 after purchasing an additional 19,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Celanese by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,430,000 after buying an additional 13,503 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE opened at $74.70 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $116.72 and its 200-day moving average is $130.56. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $71.38 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.59.

Celanese 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.