Whittier Trust Co. Sells 2,050 Shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Whittier Trust Co. reduced its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 31.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,442 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,050 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Celanese by 7.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,723,000 after acquiring an additional 69,606 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Celanese by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $521,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Celanese by 12.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 147,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,986,000 after acquiring an additional 16,308 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Celanese stock opened at $57.10 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.25. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $45.94 and a 12-month high of $172.16. 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 (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Celanese from $102.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors upgraded Celanese from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.18.

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.