ExodusPoint Capital Management LP Takes Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 105,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,333,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CE. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Celanese by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after purchasing an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in Celanese by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 160,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,814,000 after buying an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Celanese by 157.8% during the fourth quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $701,000 after acquiring an additional 6,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 116.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 15,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 8,269 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Celanese from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.61.

Celanese Stock Down 13.5 %

Shares of Celanese stock opened at $40.83 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.15. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -2.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. Celanese Co. has a 12 month low of $39.62 and a 12 month high of $169.50.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given 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 0.29%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio is -0.86%.

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.