Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 45.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,030 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 32,519 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $6,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Celanese by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE traded down $4.75 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $139.39. 710,430 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 576,735. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $154.19 and a 200 day moving average of $152.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $105.15 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.39 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Barclays downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.41.

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.