9,903 Shares in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) Acquired by AIA Group Ltd

Key Points

• AIA Group Ltd made a new investment in Celanese Corporation, acquiring 9,903 shares valued at approximately $562,000.
• Celanese recently reported earnings per share of $1.44, which exceeded expectations, along with a quarterly revenue of $2.53 billion.
• Several brokerages, including Wells Fargo and BMO Capital Markets, have recently adjusted their price targets for Celanese, with consensus indicating a price target of $65.56.

AIA Group Ltd purchased a new position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,903 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $562,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the first quarter worth about $292,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $907,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Celanese by 55.1% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 33,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 11,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 20.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,225 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Celanese and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $65.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $67.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Celanese and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $47.00 target price on Celanese and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.94.

Celanese Trading Down 0.2%

CE traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,772,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,658,702. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $54.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.76. The company has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.87, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10. Celanese Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $142.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 10.48% and a negative net margin of 16.30%. Celanese's revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.