Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Trims Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. decreased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 43.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,406 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,236 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 200.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on CE. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded 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. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Mizuho set a $45.00 price target on shares of Celanese in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.33.

Celanese Trading Up 6.7 %

NYSE CE opened at $40.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of -2.87, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. 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 12 month low of $36.29 and a 12 month high of $169.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $52.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.44.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. 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.