Aviva PLC Has $4.54 Million Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Aviva PLC raised its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 673.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,124 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned approximately 0.06% of Celanese worth $4,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 14.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,059,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 29.0% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 13,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,873,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Celanese by 5.8% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 9,249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,258,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Celanese by 57.5% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 48,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after acquiring an additional 17,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the third quarter worth $853,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 17.2 %

NYSE:CE opened at $43.92 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $36.29 and a one year high of $169.50. The company has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of -3.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.89.

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.