Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 31,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,184,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in Celanese by 52.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its holdings in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Trading Up 17.2 %

Shares of CE opened at $43.92 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $36.29 and a 52-week high of $169.50. The company has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.15, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its 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 company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on CE shares. StockNews.com lowered Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Celanese from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $84.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.89.

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.