Xponance Inc. Sells 1,440 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Xponance Inc. reduced its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,440 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CE. FMR LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $795,835,000 after purchasing an additional 570,501 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,596,947,000 after purchasing an additional 323,862 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Celanese by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,022,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $379,343,000 after purchasing an additional 230,275 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1,593.6% during the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 160,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,130,000 after acquiring an additional 150,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,879,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.56.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $156.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $99.33 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.43.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 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.