Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 45,056 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 45,056 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,118,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,037,757 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $71,823,000 after purchasing an additional 46,856 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Celanese by 123.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,194 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 102.8% in the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 3,397 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,722 shares during the period. Connable Office Inc. bought a new stake in Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Celanese by 51.5% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 14,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 5,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.18.

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Celanese Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of CE traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $57.10. 27,641,369 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,703,593. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.94 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.84 and a 200-day moving average of $86.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

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.