KBC Group NV Trims Stock Holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

KBC Group NV lowered its position in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 47.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 271,749 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 240,504 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Celanese were worth $15,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $329,000. QSM Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,615,000. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $421,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 80.4% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,836 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after purchasing an additional 11,959 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 1,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the purchase, the senior vice president owned 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Celanese from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.11.

Celanese Stock Down 2.3%

Celanese stock opened at $55.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.13. Celanese Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $147.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. Celanese’s 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 predict that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a $0.03 dividend. 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 -0.79%.

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.