Edgestream Partners L.P. Acquires New Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 51,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,545,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 0.7% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 5.3% during the third quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 3.2% during the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted its position in Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:CE opened at $55.28 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $65.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.95.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued 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 company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CE shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.31.

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.