Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 45,056 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,118,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in Celanese by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.7% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,954,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 5.3% during the third quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 3.2% in the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, CKW Financial Group grew its position in Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 2.5 %

CE stock opened at $48.19 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.57. The company has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.31.

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.