Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,155 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 567 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,719,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at $78,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 6,905 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,073,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV lifted its position in Celanese by 313.7% in the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,560,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $126.37 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.80 billion, a PE ratio of 6.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $131.00 and a 200 day moving average of $145.24. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $110.76 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $137.00 to $128.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.13.

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.