Fulton Bank N.A. Raises Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 59.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,427 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.'s holdings in Celanese were worth $982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CE. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Bank of America increased their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.94.

Celanese Trading Down 0.3%

CE stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $54.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,538,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,217,952. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.91, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $150.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. Celanese's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently -0.79%.

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.