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

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

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Celanese by 27.4% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Celanese by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Celanese by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Celanese by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,037,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,823,000 after purchasing an additional 46,856 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Celanese by 608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,754,000 after purchasing an additional 592,196 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 0.1 %

CE stock opened at $55.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.97, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.70. Celanese Co. has a 52 week low of $45.94 and a 52 week high of $172.16.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.20. The firm 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CE. StockNews.com cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Celanese from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Celanese from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Celanese 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.