Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Intrust Bank NA

Intrust Bank NA lessened its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 33.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CE. CKW Financial Group boosted its stake in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $102,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings 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. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased 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 acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Celanese by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 21,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $57.14 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $61.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.34. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $45.94 and a 1 year high of $172.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a P/E 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 quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.