PGGM Investments Acquires Shares of 1,006 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

PGGM Investments acquired a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,006 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 0.6% during the first quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 13,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 17,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.75.

Celanese Price Performance

CE opened at $131.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $140.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.24. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $110.76 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.80 by ($0.42). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 18.24%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.17 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 11.26 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

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.