Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New $6.22 Million Investment in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

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

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 200.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Celanese by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho cut their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.31.

Celanese Trading Up 7.5 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $57.10 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.02. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The firm has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.