Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 9,546.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,873 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 160,195 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Celanese worth $11,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its position in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caption Management LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE traded up $1.35 on Friday, reaching $53.56. 1,513,305 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,171,097. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $158.08. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.41 and a 200-day moving average of $63.04.

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

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CE. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Celanese from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.44.

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.