Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,003,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,187,146 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Celanese worth $681,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 739.1% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Celanese by 127.0% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Celanese during the first quarter worth about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $41.93 on Thursday. Celanese Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $142.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $55.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22. The firm has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of -2.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp set a $70.00 price target on Celanese and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.17.

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.