Amalgamated Bank Raises Position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 55.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 11,905 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its position in Celanese by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 13,442 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Celanese by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE CE opened at $60.88 on Monday. Celanese Corporation has a one year low of $36.29 and a one year high of $147.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of -4.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.14.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. Celanese’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Celanese from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.50.

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.