Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Acquires 108 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 142.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $29,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CE. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 51.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 3,431 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.8% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,627 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $804,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 5.8% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 1.5% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 13,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 12.8% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 37,618 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,374,000 after purchasing an additional 4,265 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $154.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $99.33 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.87.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently 15.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. lowered Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In related news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly purchased 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,934,933.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.