Entropy Technologies LP Sells 628 Shares of Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE)

Entropy Technologies LP lowered its holdings in Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 628 shares during the quarter. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CE. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of Celanese by 100.3% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,506,000 after buying an additional 6,818,993 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 266.7% during the fourth quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,506,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $242,681,000 after buying an additional 2,550,334 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 4,506.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,274,000 after buying an additional 2,293,764 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 9,132.0% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,801,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,781,837 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 891.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,521,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,104 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $55.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Celanese from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.50.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $47.23 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $55.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.36. Celanese Corporation has a one year low of $36.29 and a one year 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. The firm has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of -3.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.06. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 11.28% and a negative net margin of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Celanese Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently -0.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 1,479 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.18 per share, with a total value of $77,174.22. Following the purchase, the senior vice president directly owned 15,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,120.24. This trade represents a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.