Bank of Nova Scotia Boosts Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2,827.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 252,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 243,479 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Celanese were worth $17,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CKW Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. KeyCorp raised Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.89.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $43.92 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $169.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $56.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of -3.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.