Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stock Position Boosted by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 273,767 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 30,952 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.25% of Celanese worth $18,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Celanese by 200.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CE shares. Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given 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 $61.33.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE stock traded up $1.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $46.79. The company had a trading volume of 695,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,431,264. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a PE ratio of -3.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.18. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.86%.

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.