National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,792 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 17,820 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Celanese were worth $6,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 20.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in Celanese by 0.4% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,716,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $68.07 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.85, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.17. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $101.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.05. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $67.64 and a 12-month high of $172.16.
Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese's revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CE. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Vertical Research cut Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group lowered Celanese from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Five equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $116.56.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on 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.
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