Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stake Reduced by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S trimmed its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 77.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,237 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Celanese were worth $456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Celanese by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 310,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,196,000 after acquiring an additional 35,898 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 155,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,168,000 after buying an additional 36,701 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at $7,879,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 41.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 128,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,071,000 after acquiring an additional 37,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,910,000 after acquiring an additional 6,901 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Celanese from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Four equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.65.

Celanese Trading Up 3.3 %

Celanese stock opened at $139.19 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $15.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $151.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Celanese Company 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.