Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stock Position Lifted by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,981,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CE. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 142.1% in the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of CE stock traded down $3.12 on Friday, reaching $131.64. 142,626 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 711,861. The stock has a market cap of $14.38 billion, a PE ratio of 7.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $109.38 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $148.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.21.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.41.

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.