Nomura Holdings Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,006 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,006 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $272,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 466,446 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,472,000 after buying an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,077,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,031,776,000 after buying an additional 354,367 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,529,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,325,161,000 after buying an additional 1,302,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American International Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,265,000 after buying an additional 977 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $137.00 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $151.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.86. The stock has a market cap of $14.96 billion, a PE ratio of 7.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $105.15 and a one year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. Celanese’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America cut their target price on Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 10th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Celanese from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.41.

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.