Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 1,261 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC trimmed its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,635 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,261 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CE. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $155,102,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 9.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $795,835,000 after buying an additional 570,501 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 332.7% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 547,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,264,000 after buying an additional 421,200 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 39.0% in the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,354,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,845,000 after buying an additional 379,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,596,947,000 after buying an additional 323,862 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $154.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $158.06 and a 200 day moving average of $143.87. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $99.33 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on CE shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. lowered Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.56.

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.