Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $2.72 Million Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,155 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Key Financial Inc lifted its position in Celanese by 3,933.3% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In related news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 0.5 %

CE opened at $126.37 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $13.80 billion, a PE ratio of 6.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $131.00 and a 200 day moving average of $145.24.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.60% and a net margin of 18.24%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CE. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Celanese from $142.00 to $138.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Celanese from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.13.

Celanese Company 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.