Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stake Decreased by USS Investment Management Ltd

USS Investment Management Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 44.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,343 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 14,902 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 739.1% in the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on CE. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report 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 report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Vertical Research raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.94.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE traded down $0.22 on Thursday, hitting $53.71. 364,016 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,198,755. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of -3.85, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.92 and a 200-day moving average of $60.05. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $152.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business 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 posted $2.08 EPS. The company's revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 15,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.