SG Americas Securities LLC Buys 20,913 Shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 340.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,059 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,913 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. State of Wyoming lifted its stake 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. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake 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. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Caption Management LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the company'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 completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Celanese Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CE traded down $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $54.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,527,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,260,207. The firm's fifty day moving average is $49.44 and its 200 day moving average is $58.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The company has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of -3.57, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.13. Celanese Corporation has a 12 month low of $36.29 and a 12 month high of $147.86.

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 business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's payout ratio is currently -0.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CE. Barclays boosted their price objective on Celanese from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. 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 report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.11.

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.