PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 325,081 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 69.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 140,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 325,081 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $9,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Celanese by 0.7% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC grew its position in Celanese by 5.3% in the third quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 3.2% in the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its position in Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Performance

NYSE CE opened at $54.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.73 and a 200-day moving average of $90.89. 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 $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.92, a P/E/G 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 $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Celanese to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.31.

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.