Geode Capital Management LLC Has $185 Million Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,679,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,498 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $184,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CE. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Celanese in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,815,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Celanese by 1,453.1% during the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 953,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,013,000 after acquiring an additional 892,391 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Celanese by 768.8% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 423,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,337,000 after purchasing an additional 375,095 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Celanese by 139.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 512,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,453,000 after buying an additional 298,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celanese by 353.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 327,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,672,000 after acquiring an additional 255,367 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Down 13.5 %

CE stock opened at $40.83 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.42 and its 200-day moving average is $81.53. Celanese Co. has a twelve month low of $38.19 and a twelve month high of $169.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -2.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Celanese had a positive return on equity of 12.86% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Sell-side analysts expect that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Celanese’s payout ratio is -0.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Celanese from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.61.

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.