Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Has $681,000 Stake in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Key Points

• Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH reduced its stake in Celanese Corporation by 57.4% during Q1, holding a total of 12,001 shares valued at $681,000.
• Institutional investors currently own 98.87% of Celanese's stock, with multiple firms like Dodge & Cox and Turtle Creek Asset Management significantly increasing their positions.
• Celanese reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.57, surpassing analyst expectations, but experienced an 8.5% decline in revenue year-over-year.

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lowered its position in shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 57.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,001 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,200 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH's holdings in Celanese were worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter worth approximately $292,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 1st quarter valued at $907,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Celanese by 127.0% during the first 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. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in Celanese by 55.1% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 33,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 11,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 20.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 42,225 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down from $50.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Monday, April 7th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Celanese from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho upped their target price on Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Celanese from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Celanese

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock traded down $3.64 during trading on Friday, hitting $48.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,774,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,706,297. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.19, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50-day moving average price is $56.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.41. Celanese Corporation has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $142.54. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio 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.