Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 89.9% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 16,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 7,629 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 36.7% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Celanese during the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in Celanese by 42.0% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CE. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. lowered Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of CE opened at $156.08 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.43. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $99.33 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.64%.

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.