Sage Rhino Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 4,838 Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Sage Rhino Capital LLC bought a new stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,838 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Celanese by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.9% during the 4th 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. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its position in Celanese by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 13,442 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,024 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Celanese from $51.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on Celanese in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.72.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE CE traded down $1.78 on Monday, hitting $59.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,528,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,907,569. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $55.08 and a 200-day moving average of $56.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. Celanese Corporation has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $147.85. The company has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.14.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's payout ratio is currently -0.79%.

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.