First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Makes New $220,000 Investment in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,596,947,000 after buying an additional 323,862 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $795,835,000 after purchasing an additional 570,501 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 8.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,022,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $379,343,000 after purchasing an additional 230,275 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Celanese by 4.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 902,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $113,235,000 after purchasing an additional 42,124 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 1.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 884,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,030,000 after purchasing an additional 13,149 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.56.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly acquired 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $163.32 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $99.33 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $159.90 and a 200-day moving average of $147.35.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.64%.

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.