Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stake Lowered by Evercore Wealth Management LLC

Evercore Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 32.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 454,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 220,209 shares during the period. Evercore Wealth Management LLC owned 0.42% of Celanese worth $31,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 13,618,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,818,993 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Celanese by 105.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,969,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $274,714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,025 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Celanese during the 4th quarter valued at about $222,815,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Celanese by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,679,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,998,000 after purchasing an additional 73,498 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Celanese by 4,506.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,344,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,274,000 after buying an additional 2,293,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.33.

Celanese Trading Up 5.5 %

Shares of CE opened at $41.48 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $51.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.12. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08. Celanese Co. has a 1-year low of $36.29 and a 1-year high of $169.50.

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

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Celanese’s payout ratio is currently -0.86%.

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.