Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Has $1.90 Million Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,744 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted 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 valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake 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 valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CE shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

Celanese Stock Up 0.1 %

Celanese stock opened at $55.28 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.95. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.