Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Position Cut by Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. decreased its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 554 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CE. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 13.1% during 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. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 109.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,133,000 after buying an additional 12,553 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 14.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 122,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,011,000 after buying an additional 15,643 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Celanese by 447.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 5,781 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Celanese by 41.4% in 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. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.13.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $129.06 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $14.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50 day moving average is $136.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.97. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.