AGF Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 34,090 Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

AGF Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 34,090 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,359,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,430,000 after acquiring an additional 13,503 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 243,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,057,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Celanese by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 5,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Celanese by 155.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $57.10 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $45.94 and a one year high of $172.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.81 and its 200 day moving average is $89.83. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results 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. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on CE. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays cut their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.