Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Holdings Trimmed by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 194,698 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,402 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.18% of Celanese worth $13,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CE. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Celanese by 95.0% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 4,720 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 116.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 2,396 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 13,773 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,873,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Celanese by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 44,171 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,005,000 after acquiring an additional 2,261 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America cut their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.89.

Celanese Stock Performance

CE traded down $5.44 during trading on Thursday, reaching $38.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 691,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,907,141. The company's fifty day moving average price is $56.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.14. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. 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 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $169.50.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio is currently -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.