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

Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the basic materials company on Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%.

Celanese has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Celanese has a dividend payout ratio of 22.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Celanese to earn $12.69 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 22.1%.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $135.49. 644,819 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 780,687. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $14.80 billion, a PE ratio of 7.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.30. Celanese has a 52-week low of $110.76 and a 52-week high of $172.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $129.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $141.36.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.33). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.17 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese will post 10.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total value of $605,459.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Celanese from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $160.00 to $135.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.87.

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.