Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 45,056 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,118,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group raised its position in Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth 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 during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in Celanese by 43.2% in the fourth 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 period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE stock opened at $58.53 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.72. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) 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. 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. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.18.

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.