Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Raises Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 102.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,550 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Celanese were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Celanese during the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 148.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,724 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,825 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Celanese by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 128,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,430,000 after purchasing an additional 13,503 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Celanese in the third quarter valued at about $1,302,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Celanese during the third quarter worth about $179,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $140.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Five 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.50.

Celanese Stock Performance

Shares of CE opened at $66.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a PE ratio of 6.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $79.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $66.11 and a 12-month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 28.17%.

About Celanese

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.