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

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 51.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,442 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 60,126 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Celanese worth $3,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Celanese by 3.2% during the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group lifted its position in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Celanese by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its position in Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Celanese Price Performance

CE traded down $1.15 on Wednesday, reaching $57.37. 1,041,583 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,599,965. The stock has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of -4.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $63.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.18.

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.