Moors & Cabot Inc. Sells 201 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Moors & Cabot Inc. reduced its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 8.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 201 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its stake in Celanese by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 3,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in shares of Celanese by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 27,552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 128.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.59.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE opened at $74.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $116.72 and its 200-day moving average is $131.01. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $71.38 and a 12-month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 EPS. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is 28.17%.

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.