Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Acquires New Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 28,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,952,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Celanese by 3.9% in the fourth 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 period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. 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 report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.94.

Celanese Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $52.48 on Tuesday. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $152.50. The stock has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -3.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.56 and a 200-day moving average of $59.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.