Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Grows Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 608.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.63% of Celanese worth $93,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CE. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Celanese by 155.5% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after purchasing an additional 130,037 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 21.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,744,000 after buying an additional 41,598 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 447.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,781 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 264.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after buying an additional 14,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 154.7% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 31,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,397,000 after acquiring an additional 19,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE CE opened at $73.78 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $121.42 and a 200-day moving average of $133.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $72.78 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $8.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays dropped their target price 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. KeyCorp downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.35.

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.