Covestor Ltd Acquires 214 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 45.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 689 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Celanese were worth $118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,809,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,300,907,000 after purchasing an additional 468,003 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,031,776,000 after purchasing an additional 354,367 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Celanese by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,761,567,000 after purchasing an additional 329,740 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,325,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,137,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $953,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852,099 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock traded down $0.85 on Tuesday, reaching $138.88. The stock had a trading volume of 194,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 717,202. The business’s 50 day moving average is $143.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $110.76 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $15.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.30.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CE shares. Barclays downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Celanese in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target (up from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Celanese from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.75.

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.