Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,098 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 543 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $76,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 200.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $57.10 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.52. The firm has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a PE ratio of -4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Alembic Global Advisors upgraded shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho reduced their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.18.

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.