Securian Asset Management Inc. Cuts Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Securian Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,864 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CE. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in 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 period. 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 buying an additional 185 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 202 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Celanese by 200.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Celanese by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on CE shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.18.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CE opened at $58.53 on Wednesday. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.94 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.72. The company has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Celanese 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.