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

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th.

Celanese has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years. Celanese has a payout ratio of 20.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Stock Performance

Celanese stock opened at $154.62 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $157.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.64. 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. The company has a market cap of $16.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by ($0.05). Celanese had a return on equity of 14.61% and a net margin of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Celanese will post 11.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Celanese

In other news, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly bought 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Celanese news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.85, for a total value of $313,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 76,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,987,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Thomas Francis Kelly purchased 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $156.69 per share, with a total value of $219,366.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 57,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,934,933.87. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 92.6% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp purchased a new position in shares of Celanese during the first quarter worth $27,000. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 703.1% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 338.5% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 421 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 83.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 509 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CE. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, February 26th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $124.00 to $135.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Celanese from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.22.

Celanese Company 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.