Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Increases Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 122,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 10,480 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned about 0.11% of Celanese worth $16,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in Celanese by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 20.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in Celanese by 0.4% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $70.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a PE ratio of 7.10, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $105.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.88 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly 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). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict 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 given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CE shares. BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $163.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.56.

Celanese Profile

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.