Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Stock Holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,682 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 18,173 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.08% of Celanese worth $5,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $942,506,000 after purchasing an additional 6,818,993 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $242,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 4,506.7% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $162,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,764 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 105.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $274,714,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,025 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE CE traded up $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $54.56. The company had a trading volume of 665,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,250,847. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $49.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. Celanese Corporation has a 12 month low of $36.29 and a 12 month high of $147.86.

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

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.11.

Celanese Company 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.