Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Has $2.74 Million Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,633 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 5,086 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $2,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 increased its holdings in Celanese by 9.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $795,835,000 after buying an additional 570,501 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Celanese by 8.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,022,169 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $379,343,000 after buying an additional 230,275 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Celanese by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,009,106 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $156,805,000 after buying an additional 56,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 902,130 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $113,235,000 after acquiring an additional 42,124 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on CE. Citigroup boosted their target price on Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Celanese from $153.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Alembic Global Advisors cut Celanese from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $156.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Celanese news, 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 transaction of $313,700.00. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,814,588. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE traded down $2.91 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $155.67. The company had a trading volume of 705,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 702,762. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.92. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $103.19 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.37.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.