25,100 Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Bought by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 25,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CE. KeyCorp raised shares of Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Vertical Research raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.94.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $57.14 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.25 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 52-week low of $45.94 and a 52-week high of $172.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.58.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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