Calamos Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Calamos Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 901 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $10,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $155,102,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,340,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $795,835,000 after purchasing an additional 570,501 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 332.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 547,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,264,000 after acquiring an additional 421,200 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,354,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,845,000 after acquiring an additional 379,962 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,722,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,596,947,000 after purchasing an additional 323,862 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 0.1 %

CE opened at $154.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $158.06 and a 200-day moving average of $143.87. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.33 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The business’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is 15.64%.

Insider Activity

In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total transaction of $313,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly acquired 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $156.69 per share, for a total transaction of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CE. KeyCorp increased their price target on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Celanese from $165.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.56.

Celanese 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.