Swiss National Bank Sells 15,500 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 308,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 15,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Celanese were worth $21,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group increased its stake in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Celanese by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Vertical Research raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.18.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $58.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.74. The stock has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Equities analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given 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 (DPR) is currently -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.