Employees Retirement System of Texas Purchases New Shares in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 53,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,360,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised 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 last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 200.8% in 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 stake in Celanese by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celanese Stock Down 13.5 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $40.83 on Monday. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $38.19 and a 52-week high of $169.50. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.93, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $59.42 and its 200-day moving average is $81.53.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 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 company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.61.

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.