KBC Group NV Has $15.43 Million Stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

KBC Group NV reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 47.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 271,749 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 240,504 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 0.25% of Celanese worth $15,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in Celanese by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $942,506,000 after buying an additional 6,818,993 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $222,815,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 266.7% in the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $242,681,000 after buying an additional 2,550,334 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $162,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.4%

CE traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $60.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,082,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,288,461. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $53.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.14. Celanese Corporation has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $147.86.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Celanese from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is 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.