Zacks Investment Management Increases Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Zacks Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,443 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 9,782 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management owned about 0.15% of Celanese worth $21,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.8% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,611 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.6% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 34,933 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,712,000 after acquiring an additional 17,521 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 19,147 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,583,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 17.9% in the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,821 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Celanese by 4.0% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Five investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $116.56.

Celanese Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Celanese stock traded up $1.10 on Friday, reaching $70.54. 2,854,736 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,046,687. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $105.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $68.88 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.50 EPS. The company's revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

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.