Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by New England Research & Management Inc.

New England Research & Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 37.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,165 shares during the quarter. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 44.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after acquiring an additional 9,057 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 37.1% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 46,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,165,000 after acquiring an additional 3,683 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CE shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.94.

Celanese Stock Down 4.0%

NYSE CE opened at $54.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.13. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $147.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $48.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.