Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Holdings Boosted by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.05% of Celanese worth $4,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CE. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Celanese by 8.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 4.8% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 29,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,034,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 6.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 472,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $64,298,000 after buying an additional 28,901 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Celanese by 95.0% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 4,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 116.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 2,396 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

CE opened at $55.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.31 and a 200-day moving average of $83.64. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $171.68.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CE. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Three 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.