Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 403.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 86,416 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.10% of Celanese worth $7,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the 4th quarter worth $555,000. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 16,812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 8,142 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth about $286,000. Matrix Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 1,186.2% during the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 1,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Celanese by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 23,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $72.70 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.85. The company has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $64.05 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.00.

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.