Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires New Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 89,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,221,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.08% of Celanese as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 200.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 4,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the fourth quarter worth about $2,359,000. Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 81,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,627,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Finally, Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,247,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CE. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.31.

Celanese Stock Up 7.5 %

CE opened at $57.10 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $63.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The company has a market cap 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 results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued 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 is currently -0.86%.

Celanese 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.