Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Has $145,000 Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lowered its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 248 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Celanese were worth $145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc grew its position in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $135.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock opened at $92.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $128.06 and its 200 day moving average is $137.49. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly 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). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 10.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.94%.

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.