Walnut Level Capital LLC Sells 47,500 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Walnut Level Capital LLC cut its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 86.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 47,500 shares during the period. Walnut Level Capital LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 200.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Celanese in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $102,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group cut their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.18.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CE opened at $57.10 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of -4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average is $62.84 and its 200 day moving average is $86.25. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. 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 (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results 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 company 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.