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

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) declared 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 1.81%.

Celanese has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% annually over the last three years. Celanese has a dividend payout ratio of 20.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Celanese to earn $14.09 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 19.9%.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE stock opened at $154.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $157.84 and its 200 day moving average is $143.56. Celanese has a twelve month low of $99.33 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Celanese will post 11.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on CE. KeyCorp increased their target price on Celanese from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on Celanese from $169.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Celanese from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Celanese news, SVP Mark Christopher Murray purchased 597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $156.43 per share, with a total value of $93,388.71. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 11,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,814,588. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,987,888.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celanese

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Celanese by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 133,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,667,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in Celanese by 53.7% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 25,143 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,906,000 after purchasing an additional 8,785 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 703.1% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 257 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Celanese by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $717,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter worth $688,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.