Bank of Nova Scotia Decreases Stock Holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• The Bank of Nova Scotia significantly reduced its holdings in Celanese Corporation by 97.4%, leaving it with only 6,638 shares valued at approximately $377,000.
• Multiple hedge funds have adjusted their positions in Celanese, with notable increases including a 739.1% rise in stake by LRI Investments LLC in the last quarter.
• Analysts have mixed views on Celanese, with the stock receiving one sell, eleven hold, and six buy ratings, amid target price changes between $46.00 and $77.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 97.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,638 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 245,453 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Celanese were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Celanese by 122.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 739.1% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Celanese by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Celanese Trading Down 13.0%

Shares of NYSE:CE traded down $6.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.25. 12,782,055 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,839,785. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $55.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.36. Celanese Corporation has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $142.54.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.38 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were given a $0.03 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.