Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Increases Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,683 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $3,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CE. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Celanese by 137.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $173,000 after buying an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Celanese by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 78,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,712,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Celanese by 512.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 118,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,064,000 after buying an additional 98,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new stake in Celanese in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Down 21.5 %

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $54.86 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $52.97 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on CE shares. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $88.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho cut their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Celanese to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.00.

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.