BNP Paribas Financial Markets Purchases 37,577 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 41.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 128,423 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 37,577 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.12% of Celanese worth $22,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. TKG Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the 1st quarter worth $1,089,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 109.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,047 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 12,553 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at approximately $363,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Celanese by 25.3% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,475 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 2,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 8.2% in the first quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,179 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $159.41.

Celanese Stock Up 1.4 %

Celanese stock traded up $1.80 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $133.98. The company had a trading volume of 864,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 721,702. The firm's fifty day moving average is $147.89 and its 200-day moving average is $152.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.76 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. Celanese's quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.