Register Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 282 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 310,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,196,000 after purchasing an additional 35,898 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 155,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,168,000 after buying an additional 36,701 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,879,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,910,000 after buying an additional 6,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Whale Capital LLP boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 66,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,254,000 after buying an additional 22,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CE shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Celanese from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Celanese from $167.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.41.

Celanese Stock Performance

Celanese stock opened at $134.89 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.42, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $150.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.60. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $109.38 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 26th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.41%.

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.