BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Purchases 11,300 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 316.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,869 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,300 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in Celanese by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 281,709 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $38,300,000 after acquiring an additional 34,658 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its holdings in Celanese by 29.0% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 17,397 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth $179,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,302,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $17,430,000 after buying an additional 13,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Stock Up 1.4 %

CE traded up $0.62 during trading on Monday, hitting $44.12. 495,537 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,017,901. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.17, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The business's 50 day moving average is $49.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.81. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CE. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.33.

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.