Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 1,368,104 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 891.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,521,564 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,368,104 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 1.39% of Celanese worth $105,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Celanese by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 281,709 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $38,300,000 after acquiring an additional 34,658 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its position in shares of Celanese by 29.0% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 17,397 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $179,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,302,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $17,430,000 after buying an additional 13,503 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CE. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Mizuho set a $45.00 price objective on Celanese in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.33.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $43.56 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $36.29 and a 12-month high of $169.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.50 and a 200 day moving average of $70.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently -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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