Jones Financial Companies Lllp Acquires 1,211 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 123.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,194 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,211 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Celanese were worth $152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CE. Neumann Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE opened at $57.10 on Friday. 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 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’s 50 day moving average is $63.81 and its 200 day moving average is $89.83.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued 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 currently -0.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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, Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.31.

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.