Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 11,876 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 194,621 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,876 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned approximately 0.18% of Celanese worth $26,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 13,733 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,360,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 17,620 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,028,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays decreased their target price on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler cut Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $153.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE traded up $0.66 on Monday, reaching $123.80. 673,257 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 755,887. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.57. The firm has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a PE ratio of 6.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.17 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Celanese's payout ratio is 15.41%.

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.