Citigroup Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Citigroup Inc. decreased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 211,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,821 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $28,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Celanese by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 7,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 10.6% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,313,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares during the period. Commerce Bank grew its position in shares of Celanese by 45.0% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 14,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,993,000 after purchasing an additional 4,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at $397,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CE. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group cut shares of Celanese from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Celanese from $101.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Vertical Research cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Celanese from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Celanese currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.59.

Celanese Stock Performance

Celanese stock opened at $76.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.56. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $71.38 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a PE ratio of 7.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 13.17%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.67 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.17%.

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.