Celanese Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.70 (NYSE:CE)

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, May 13th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th.

Celanese has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years. Celanese has a dividend payout ratio of 20.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Celanese to earn $13.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.1%.

Celanese Price Performance

CE opened at $156.08 on Wednesday. Celanese has a one year low of $99.33 and a one year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.36.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 14.61%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese will post 11.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Bank of America lowered shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of Celanese in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray acquired 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $156.43 per share, for a total transaction of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,814,588. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray bought 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,814,588. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.