Hartford Investment Management Co. Boosts Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Hartford Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,963 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 472 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CE. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,296,000 after buying an additional 5,143 shares in the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth $363,000. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 16.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.87.

Celanese Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $128.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $130.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.65. 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 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.