Walnut Level Capital LLC Sells 47,500 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Walnut Level Capital LLC lessened its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 86.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 47,500 shares during the period. Walnut Level Capital LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Celanese by 200.8% during 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 bought a new stake in shares of Celanese during the 3rd quarter valued at about $102,000. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 0.5 %

CE opened at $57.10 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.25. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $45.94 and a twelve month high of $172.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp raised shares of Celanese from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Celanese from $77.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. 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 research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.18.

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.