Custom Index Systems LLC Has $755,000 Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Custom Index Systems LLC raised its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 98.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,752 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 528.9% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 260,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,142,000 after buying an additional 219,095 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after acquiring an additional 150,201 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 512.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 118,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,064,000 after purchasing an additional 98,860 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,560,608,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. grew its stake in Celanese by 4,024.9% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 59,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,293,000 after purchasing an additional 58,441 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Bank of America cut their price target on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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 lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In related 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 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 approximately $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE stock traded down $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $128.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 518,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 773,503. The stock has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09, a PEG ratio of 0.70 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $130.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.65. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 10.32 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

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.