Cerity Partners LLC Has $7.75 Million Stock Holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 1,432.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 136,539 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 127,630 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Celanese worth $7,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,651,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 54.4% in the first quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,631 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 5,507 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Celanese by 31.7% in the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 7,293 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $414,000 after buying an additional 1,757 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 9.0% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 20,823 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 335.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 543,042 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,828,000 after purchasing an additional 418,446 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $1.93 during trading on Thursday, reaching $58.85. The stock had a trading volume of 616,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,305,544. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a PE ratio of -3.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Celanese Corporation has a 52 week low of $36.29 and a 52 week high of $147.86. The business's 50-day moving average price is $55.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.52.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 16.54% and a positive return on equity of 11.28%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.20%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up from $53.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.50.

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.