Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by TD Asset Management Inc

Key Points

• TD Asset Management Inc significantly reduced its stake in Celanese Corporation by 76.2%, reducing its holdings to 9,306 shares, valued at approximately $528,000.
• Celanese Corporation reported a Q1 earnings per share (EPS) of $0.57, surpassing analysts' estimates of $0.37, despite an 8.5% decline in revenue compared to the prior year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share, indicating a modest annual dividend yield of 0.2%, with a negative payout ratio of -0.79%.

TD Asset Management Inc lowered its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 76.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,306 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 29,730 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc's holdings in Celanese were worth $528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. State of Wyoming raised its position in Celanese by 122.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in Celanese by 739.1% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 127.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:CE opened at $48.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.16, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $56.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.24. Celanese Corporation has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $142.54.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Celanese's payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CE. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Celanese from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.50.

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.

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