Arizona State Retirement System Acquires 225 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,421 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Celanese were worth $4,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 180.0% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 83.7% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp bought a new position in Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly acquired 1,400 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,934,933.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CE shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.22.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock opened at $164.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $156.34 and its 200-day moving average is $142.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.36. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $99.33 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.64%.

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.