Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,910 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $5,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,899,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,560,608,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,031,776,000 after buying an additional 354,367 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Celanese by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,337,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,761,567,000 after buying an additional 329,740 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Celanese by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,325,161,000 after buying an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in Celanese by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,158,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,058,447,000 after buying an additional 21,085 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on CE shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Celanese from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

Celanese Trading Up 2.7 %

CE opened at $123.14 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $110.76 and a one year high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.45 billion, a PE ratio of 6.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $131.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% 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.