Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Has $2.59 Million Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,516 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $126.90 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $130.51 and a 200-day moving average of $144.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $110.76 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $13.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is 15.41%.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.13.

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.