Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,567 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Celanese were worth $8,755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 142.1% during the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

CE traded up $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $139.14. 519,477 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 719,353. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $110.76 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.62. The company has a market cap of $15.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.63, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CE. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.75.

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.