SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 340.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,913 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 266.7% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,681,000 after buying an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 4,506.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,274,000 after buying an additional 2,293,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 105.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,714,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,025 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $54.58 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.13. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $147.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.27.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business 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%. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CE. Citigroup lowered their price target on Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.94.

Celanese 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.