National Bank of Canada FI Increases Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 768.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 423,887 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 375,095 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.39% of Celanese worth $29,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 200.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter worth $103,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on CE shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Alembic Global Advisors raised Celanese from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.50.

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Celanese Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of CE traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $40.34. The stock had a trading volume of 1,671,692 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,856,366. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $36.83 and a 1-year high of $169.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.53. 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 (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. 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.