By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE – Free Report) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,688,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,860 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $116,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 65,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Celanese by 95.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 4,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 116.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 2,396 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 58,586 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,965,000 after acquiring an additional 3,718 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.94.
Celanese Trading Up 2.0 %
CE stock opened at $56.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of -4.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.94 and a fifty-two week high of $171.68.
Celanese (NYSE:CE – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Celanese Cuts Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.
About Celanese
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.
See Also
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