Toronto Dominion Bank Boosts Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,701 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Celanese were worth $6,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Celanese by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Celanese by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,161,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,663,000 after buying an additional 150,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.56.

Celanese Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $68.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of 6.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.17. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $67.03 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $98.61 and a 200 day moving average of $121.89.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.