Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Celanese Corporation by 19.1%, selling 30,953 shares during the first quarter, leaving them with 130,920 shares valued at approximately $7.43 million.
• Institutional investors own 98.87% of Celanese, with significant increases in holdings reported by firms such as Dodge & Cox and Fuller & Thaler Asset Management.
• Celanese declared a $0.03 quarterly dividend, set for payment on August 11th, and has a current annualized dividend yield of 0.2%.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 19.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 130,920 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 30,953 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Celanese worth $7,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 267 shares during 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. LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 473 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on Celanese from $51.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Mizuho raised their price target on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.50.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares in the company, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE traded down $3.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,774,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,706,297. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. Celanese Corporation has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $142.54.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. Analysts predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.79%.

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.