Rhumbline Advisers Decreases Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,689 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 15,212 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.18% of Celanese worth $13,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 137.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Celanese by 6.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 78,790 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,712,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 7.3% in the third quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 6,963 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $947,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Celanese in the third quarter valued at $16,080,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 1,074.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 21,439 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,915,000 after buying an additional 19,613 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Celanese stock traded down $0.20 on Monday, hitting $52.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,464,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,681,459. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $68.25 and a 200-day moving average of $96.75. Celanese Co. has a 1 year low of $50.82 and a 1 year high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. Celanese's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.00.

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.