Versor Investments LP Sells 8,014 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Versor Investments LP trimmed its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 77.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,014 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Celanese were worth $313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Celanese by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 36,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,277,000 after buying an additional 1,946 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Celanese by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 60,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,309,000 after buying an additional 3,992 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Celanese by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,078 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,420,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in Celanese by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in Celanese by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 5,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 584 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $73.78 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $8.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $72.78 and a one year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This represents a 6.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Vertical Research cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.35.

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.