Private Portfolio Partners LLC Buys 3,647 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Private Portfolio Partners LLC increased its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 206.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares during the quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group grew its stake in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its holdings in Celanese by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 200.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.94.

Celanese Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:CE opened at $56.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $60.61 and a 200 day moving average of $82.98. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $171.68.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

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.