Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 4,119 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp reduced its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,567 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,119 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 13,733 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in Celanese by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased 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 acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $126.37. 951,950 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 757,447. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.37. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $13.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.92, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid 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 2.22%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $153.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of Celanese 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

About Celanese

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.