Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Buys 5,744 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 5,744 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Neumann Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in 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 period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in 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 period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

CE stock opened at $55.28 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.95. The stock has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $45.94 and a 1 year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report 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 for the company in a report on Thursday. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.31.

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.