BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Grows Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 232.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,400 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,167 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.'s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Celanese by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 45,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,157,000 after buying an additional 4,153 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in shares of Celanese by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,357 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $178.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $155.13.

Insider Activity

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

Celanese Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $0.54 during trading on Monday, reaching $130.60. 924,700 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 743,142. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.26 billion, a PE ratio of 7.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.30. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $133.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.57. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $110.76 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.17 earnings per share. Celanese's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 10.5 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. 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 2.14%. 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.