Aigen Investment Management LP Increases Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 46.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,777 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,857 shares during the quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP's holdings in Celanese were worth $1,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CE. State Street Corp increased its position in Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Celanese by 155.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management increased its position in Celanese by 6.5% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $21,814,000 after acquiring an additional 9,782 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in Celanese by 21.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,744,000 after acquiring an additional 41,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.31.

Celanese Stock Up 0.1 %

Celanese stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $55.28. 2,280,625 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,232,923. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $45.94 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.95. The company has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a PE ratio of -3.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese's payout ratio is -0.86%.

Celanese 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.