51,224 Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Bought by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 51,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,545,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Celanese by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 608.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 139.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,453,000 after purchasing an additional 298,596 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,566,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $353,145,000 after buying an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE CE traded down $1.71 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $52.90. 2,154,974 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,187,625. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.35. The stock has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.80, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $45.94 and a 1-year high of $172.16.

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Celanese (NYSE:CE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese's payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Celanese from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. 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 research report on Monday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.31.

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.