Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 103,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,168,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.09% of Celanese as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group increased 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 during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.18.

Celanese Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $57.10 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a PEG 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $45.94 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.25.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s 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.