Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by United Community Bank

United Community Bank lessened its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 29.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. United Community Bank’s holdings in Celanese were worth $41,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 27.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,286,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 136,994 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Celanese by 7.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after acquiring an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Celanese by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,037,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,823,000 after acquiring an additional 46,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Celanese by 608.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after acquiring an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:CE opened at $55.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a PE ratio of -3.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.70. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CE shares. StockNews.com cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays cut their target price on Celanese from $75.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Vertical Research raised Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.31.

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.