Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Acquired by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,046,337 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 126,058 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.96% of Celanese worth $72,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Celanese by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.33.

Celanese Stock Down 2.5 %

CE stock opened at $44.78 on Tuesday. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $48.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.01. The stock has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a PE ratio of -3.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently -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.

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