Commerce Bank Acquires 4,552 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 45.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,552 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Celanese in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Key Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3,933.3% during the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CE opened at $74.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.51, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $71.38 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $116.72 and a 200 day moving average of $131.01.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp lowered Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.59.

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.