Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 103,572 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 103,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,168,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CE. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Celanese by 51.1% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 0.5 %

CE stock opened at $57.10 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.25. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for 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%. Analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America cut their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.18.

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.