Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $566,000 Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 24.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,151 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 155,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,168,000 after buying an additional 36,701 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth $7,879,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in Celanese by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 38,334 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,812,000 after acquiring an additional 10,775 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 14.1% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 131,751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,590,000 after acquiring an additional 16,253 shares during the period. Finally, Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 142.1% in the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Celanese news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly acquired 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of Celanese stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CE. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. lowered shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.56.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE:CE opened at $154.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.36. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $99.33 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $158.59 and a 200-day moving average of $145.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.64%.

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.