Choreo LLC Acquires 3,942 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Choreo LLC raised its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 210.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,942 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 77,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,088,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $274,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Celanese by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 21,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after purchasing an additional 8,398 shares during the period. Finally, Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its stake in Celanese by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 8,658 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,455 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the firm’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 acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,934,933.87. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Alembic Global Advisors lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.56.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $154.42 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $99.33 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.36. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.91.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.70 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 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.