Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 28.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 117,568 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 45,928 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.11% of Celanese worth $15,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 689 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Celanese by 13.4% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 464.6% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 7,170 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 264.2% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,342,000 after purchasing an additional 14,103 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at about $380,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE CE traded up $0.66 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $72.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,538,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 961,641. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.38 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $7.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $118.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.00.

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 return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $120.59.

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.