AA Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

AA Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 142.1% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Celanese in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 51.1% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Celanese from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $147.00 to $144.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Celanese from $175.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.65.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock traded up $2.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $133.58. 120,599 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 715,718. The stock has a market cap of $14.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $146.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.78. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $110.76 and a 12 month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.17. Celanese had a net margin of 18.60% and a return on equity of 14.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 11.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 26th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.41%.

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.