DnB Asset Management AS Boosts Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Celanese by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,814,000 after buying an additional 9,782 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Celanese by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 157.8% in the 4th quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,000 after acquiring an additional 6,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in Celanese by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 8,269 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $55.72 on Wednesday. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $45.94 and a 1 year high of $171.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.64.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.94.

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.