Intrust Bank NA Has $928,000 Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Intrust Bank NA boosted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,973 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 335 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Celanese were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Choreo LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 210.8% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,942 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 77,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,088,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Celanese by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at $274,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 21,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after buying an additional 8,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $156.49. 17,796 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 695,130. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.53. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $99.33 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $158.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.61.

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

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of 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. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $124.00 to $135.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Barclays lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Piper Sandler upgraded Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, February 26th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.56.

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.