Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 103,572 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $7,168,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of Celanese at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th 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. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 200.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CE traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $44.07. 449,496 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,022,170. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $49.28 and a 200-day moving average of $70.16.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. On average, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Celanese from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.33.

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.