Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 46,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Celanese were worth $6,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Key Financial Inc raised its holdings in Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Celanese during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CE. KeyCorp lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays decreased their price target on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.59.

Celanese Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:CE opened at $73.21 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.38 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

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.