Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 21.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 233,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 41,598 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.21% of Celanese worth $31,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,560,608,000 after acquiring an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Celanese by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,058,447,000 after acquiring an additional 21,085 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $156,663,000 after acquiring an additional 150,201 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Celanese by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $146,426,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 378,507 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $51,057,000 after acquiring an additional 46,732 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $130.12.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Down 4.4 %

NYSE:CE traded down $3.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $85.73. 2,992,935 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 861,542. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $127.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.16. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $85.03 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. 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 3.27%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.17%.

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.