AGF Management Ltd. Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

AGF Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 34,090 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,359,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in Celanese by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Celanese in the third quarter worth about $102,000. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in Celanese in the third quarter worth about $103,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

Celanese stock opened at $57.10 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.94 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of -4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CE. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Celanese has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.31.

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.