Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 70.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 79,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,856 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Celanese were worth $5,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group lifted its position in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. 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 valued at $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% in 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 worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the topic of several research reports. Vertical Research raised 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. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.31.

Celanese Stock Up 7.5 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $57.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Research 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.