Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Has $56,000 Stock Position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lessened its stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 264 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Celanese were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Celanese by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,500,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,931,000 after acquiring an additional 136,994 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Celanese by 155.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 213,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,049,000 after acquiring an additional 130,037 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Celanese by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 233,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,744,000 after buying an additional 41,598 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Celanese by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $134,723,000 after buying an additional 69,606 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Price Performance

NYSE CE opened at $52.75 on Friday. 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 $51.24 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of -3.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $68.25 and its 200-day moving average is $96.95.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted 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 negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 12.86%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -0.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CE. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Vertical Research cut shares of Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

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.