Millburn Ridgefield Corp Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Celanese by 14.9% in 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 last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,085,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $146,426,000 after purchasing an additional 8,700 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after purchasing an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 608.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after buying an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 472,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $64,298,000 after buying an additional 28,901 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE opened at $72.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.29, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average of $109.15 and a 200 day moving average of $126.38. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.38 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16.

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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Vertical Research downgraded 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. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.59.

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.