Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp cut its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 32.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,975 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 7,689 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Celanese by 155.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 21.7% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,744,000 after purchasing an additional 41,598 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 69,606 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 12.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 147,001 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 16,308 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.25. 7,876,527 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,144,572. The company has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $93.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.79. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $66.73 and a 52-week high of $172.16. 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 (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The firm 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 company posted $2.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays cut 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.50.

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.