Citigroup Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Celanese Corporation $CE

Citigroup Inc. lowered its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 28.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 123,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 49,527 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $7,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 13,442 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CE. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $52.00 target price on shares of Celanese and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.94.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Celanese Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of CE stock opened at $42.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of -2.87, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. Celanese Corporation has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $142.54.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is -0.81%.

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.