Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Lowers Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 57.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,994 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 76,729 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.05% of Celanese worth $4,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CE. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Celanese by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,146 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in Celanese by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Celanese by 208.9% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 225,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,600,000 after purchasing an additional 152,441 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Celanese Trading Up 1.7 %

Celanese stock opened at $72.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 7.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $64.05 and a 12 month high of $172.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CE shares. Vertical Research lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.82.

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.