Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Shares Sold by KCM Investment Advisors LLC

KCM Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 745 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group raised its position in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 200.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $40.83 on Monday. 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 50-day moving average price of $59.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.53. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $38.19 and a 12-month high of $169.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.93, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Vertical Research raised shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.61.

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.