Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Mount Lucas Management LP

Mount Lucas Management LP trimmed its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 59.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,760 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,619 shares during the period. Mount Lucas Management LP's holdings in Celanese were worth $783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its stake in Celanese by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,188 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in shares of Celanese by 13.4% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 20.4% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,716,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $73.78. The stock had a trading volume of 2,374,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,290,695. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.06 billion, a PE ratio of 7.42, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. The stock's 50 day moving average is $121.42 and its 200 day moving average is $133.60. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $72.78 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. Celanese's payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Celanese from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp cut Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $150.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $121.35.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 6.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese 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.