LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 83.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 19,925 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $614,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CE. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the third quarter worth about $47,000. Simplicity Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth about $355,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 10,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Celanese by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 60,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,565,000 after purchasing an additional 18,995 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at $8,934,933.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were 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 owns 76,429 shares in the company, valued at $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.56.

Celanese Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $1.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $156.13. 115,046 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 691,140. 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 firm has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.91. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $99.33 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.64%.

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.