The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $8.90 Million Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 65,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 5,353 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Celanese were worth $8,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 purchasing an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Celanese by 0.8% during 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 buying an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after buying an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 608.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 378,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,057,000 after acquiring an additional 46,732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $72.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.29, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50-day moving average of $109.15 and a 200-day moving average of $126.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $71.38 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CE shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Five research 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.59.

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.