Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $10.04 Million Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,123 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.13% of Celanese worth $10,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter valued at $222,815,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 1,453.1% in the fourth quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 953,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,013,000 after buying an additional 892,391 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Celanese by 139.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,453,000 after buying an additional 298,596 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 353.6% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 327,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,672,000 after buying an additional 255,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,566,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.89.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $37.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.71, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $55.65 and a 200-day moving average of $78.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $36.29 and a 1 year high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is presently -0.86%.

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.