Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 3,605 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 124,596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,605 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Celanese worth $8,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the third quarter valued at about $102,000. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese in the third quarter valued at about $103,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Four research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.31.

Celanese Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $50.91 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $66.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.60. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $49.22 and a 52-week high of $172.16. 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 $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. Equities research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.