Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 608.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 592,196 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Celanese were worth $93,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,560,608,000 after acquiring an additional 90,206 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,058,447,000 after purchasing an additional 21,085 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,663,000 after buying an additional 150,201 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Celanese by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $146,426,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 378,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,057,000 after acquiring an additional 46,732 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on Celanese from $151.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.35.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $73.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.06 billion, a PE ratio of 7.42, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $121.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.60. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $72.78 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. Research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.17%.

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.