Capital International Investors Sells 3,798,952 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Capital International Investors lowered its holdings in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 34.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,368,934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,798,952 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned 0.07% of Celanese worth $509,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CE. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Celanese in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 52.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Celanese by 200.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE CE opened at $40.03 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $52.60 and its 200 day moving average is $75.51. Celanese Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.29 and a fifty-two week high of $169.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of -2.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price 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. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Celanese from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Celanese from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Celanese from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.33.

About Celanese

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.