2,900 Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Purchased by B&L Asset Management LLC

B&L Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 1.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 134,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,096,000 after buying an additional 1,367 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Celanese by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 31,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,397,000 after acquiring an additional 19,075 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 316.2% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 5,761 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter valued at $3,499,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $73.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.77. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $71.38 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 7.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.31.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is 28.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Vertical Research cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Celanese from $132.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.59.

Celanese 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.