Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Acquired by Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 142.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 155,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,168,000 after buying an additional 36,701 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth $7,879,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 39.1% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 38,334 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,812,000 after purchasing an additional 10,775 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 14.1% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 131,751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,590,000 after purchasing an additional 16,253 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the third quarter valued at about $3,453,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America cut Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $124.00 to $135.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Piper Sandler raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.56.

Insider Activity at Celanese

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

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $154.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $158.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.87. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $99.33 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released 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). The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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

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.