Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 270,802 Shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. significantly increased its stake in Celanese Corporation by 301.3% during the 1st quarter, owning approximately 360,683 shares worth $20.5 million.
• Celanese recently announced a $0.03 quarterly dividend to be paid on August 11, 2023, indicating a 0.3% yield for shareholders.
• Analyst ratings for Celanese show a mix of opinions, with one sell rating, eleven hold ratings, and six buy ratings, leading to an average target price of $66.50.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 301.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 360,683 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 270,802 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.33% of Celanese worth $20,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Celanese by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in Celanese by 127.0% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 622 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 739.1% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CE shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on Celanese from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.56.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock traded down $6.17 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.25. The stock had a trading volume of 12,810,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,899,279. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 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 business's 50-day moving average is $55.69 and its 200 day moving average is $54.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 negative net margin of 16.30% and a positive return on equity of 10.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

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.