Andra AP fonden Lowers Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Andra AP fonden lowered its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 84.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 22,500 shares during the quarter. Andra AP fonden's holdings in Celanese were worth $277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.1% in 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Celanese by 155.5% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,049,000 after buying an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in Celanese by 6.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.31.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE CE traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $53.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,026,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,174,020. The company's 50-day moving average is $64.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.08. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. 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.