Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lessened its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 468 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Celanese worth $9,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CE. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,879,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Celanese by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 187,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 323,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CE shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Celanese from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Celanese from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.65.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock traded up $2.11 on Wednesday, hitting $133.51. 357,780 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 717,528. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $110.76 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s fifty day moving average is $146.97 and its 200 day moving average is $151.78. The company has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.33, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. 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.