Headlands Technologies LLC Sells 436 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Headlands Technologies LLC cut its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 55.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 436 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $55,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.6% during 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 during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Celanese by 4.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 902,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $113,235,000 after purchasing an additional 42,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 1.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 884,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,030,000 after buying an additional 13,149 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. 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 research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America cut shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Celanese Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $154.42 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $158.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $145.91. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $99.33 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.36. 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 (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). 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 analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Celanese’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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

Celanese Company 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.