Intrust Bank NA Decreases Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Intrust Bank NA reduced its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 33.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,058 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Celanese were worth $279,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CE. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Celanese by 45.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 15,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Celanese by 1.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 107,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,949,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Celanese by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 65,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,898,000 after buying an additional 5,353 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Celanese by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 147,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,986,000 after acquiring an additional 16,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 10,296 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,400,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $57.14 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of -4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on CE shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.94.

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.