Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 115.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,060 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,397 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Celanese were worth $571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Celanese by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,197 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,263 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Celanese by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,239 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV boosted its stake in Celanese by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 13,442 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CE. Bank of America increased 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. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Piper Sandler reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 price target (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Celanese from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.11.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE traded down $0.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $53.51. 1,259,251 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,261,917. The company has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.52, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13. Celanese Corporation has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $147.86. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $50.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.74. 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 (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.03 dividend. 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 is presently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.