B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after buying an additional 150,201 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Celanese by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $146,426,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Celanese by 608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 378,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,057,000 after purchasing an additional 46,732 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 528.9% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,142,000 after purchasing an additional 219,095 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.59.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $74.70 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 7.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $116.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $130.56. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $71.38 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

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.