Choreo LLC Grows Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Choreo LLC grew its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 210.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,942 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CE. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the third quarter worth about $47,000. Simplicity Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the third quarter worth $355,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 1.9% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 10,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 46.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 60,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,565,000 after buying an additional 18,995 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Piper Sandler raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $154.42 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $99.33 and a one year high of $172.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.36.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.