Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the period. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CE. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after buying an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Celanese by 155.5% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,049,000 after purchasing an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management grew its holdings in Celanese by 6.5% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,814,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Celanese by 21.7% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,744,000 after buying an additional 41,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after buying an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut Celanese from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $138.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group downgraded Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Vertical Research downgraded Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.82.

Celanese Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of CE opened at $74.17 on Friday. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.05 and a fifty-two week high of $172.16. The company’s fifty day moving average is $70.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.94. The firm has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a PE ratio of 7.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Celanese’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. Analysts forecast that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current year.

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.