Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 238,161 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,190,910 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 238,161 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 12.07% of Celanese worth $912,943,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CE. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CE. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Vertical Research upgraded Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.94.

Celanese Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $57.14 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $45.94 and a one year high of $172.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a PE 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 current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

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.