Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 27.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 14,515 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Celanese were worth $5,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Celanese by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,560,608,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,031,776,000 after buying an additional 354,367 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Celanese by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,761,567,000 after acquiring an additional 329,740 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Celanese by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,325,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 21,085 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $153.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $1.96 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $125.76. The stock had a trading volume of 840,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 756,359. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $131.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $13.74 billion, a PE ratio of 6.81, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

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.