Mount Lucas Management LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Mount Lucas Management LP trimmed its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 377 shares during the quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP’s holdings in Celanese were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CE. UMB Bank n.a. lifted 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during 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 during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position 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 valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Celanese by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CE shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.31.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $54.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.88, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $45.94 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.42. 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 issued 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -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.