Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $4.96 Million Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,649 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $4,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CE. Custom Index Systems LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 98.3% in the third quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 5,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,752 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Celanese by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 12,692 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after buying an additional 1,830 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,563,000 after buying an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in Celanese by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 21,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,950,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Celanese by 8.8% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 6,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $843,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 0.8 %

CE stock opened at $125.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $129.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.00. 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 (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.44.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Celanese Company 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.