Man Group plc Lowers Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Man Group plc cut its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 92.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,836 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 112,483 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in Celanese were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its position in Celanese by 1.8% in 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. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter worth $956,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its holdings in Celanese by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 4,373 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $812,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 22,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,727 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CE. Mizuho set a $45.00 target price on shares of Celanese in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $48.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.94.

Insider Activity

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

Celanese Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE CE traded down $1.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $53.31. 220,183 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,202,354. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $152.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.82, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.88.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.79%.

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.