Washington Trust Bank Purchases Shares of 1,502 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Washington Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,502 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 11.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,430,000 after acquiring an additional 13,503 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.5% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 0.8% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 42,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,757,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 21.7% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after buying an additional 41,598 shares during the period. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth $256,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE opened at $89.72 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $127.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $137.16. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $89.12 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.18.

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.