Mackenzie Financial Corp Boosts Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 155.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,317 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,184 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Celanese by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 485 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 739.1% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 537 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Caption Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $54.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,097,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,220,672. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $47.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.31. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $36.29 and a twelve month high of $150.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 1,479 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.18 per share, for a total transaction of $77,174.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,120.24. The trade was a 10.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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 note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.94.

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.