Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Increases Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $2,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 25.4% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 50,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,354,000 after purchasing an additional 10,237 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 15.6% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,003 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 2,836 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 15.8% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 9,948 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 13.2% in the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 3,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,453,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on CE shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Celanese from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Barclays cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Celanese from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.41.

Celanese Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of CE stock traded down $3.12 on Friday, hitting $131.64. 142,626 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 711,861. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $148.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.38 billion, a PE ratio of 7.31, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $109.38 and a twelve month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 payout ratio is 15.41%.

Celanese 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.