Securian Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,864 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Celanese were worth $406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 103.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. CKW Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew 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 buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Celanese by 200.8% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Celanese in the third quarter worth approximately $102,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Celanese Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of CE stock opened at $58.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.20, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. Celanese Co. has a one year low of $45.94 and a one year high of $172.16. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $63.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Celanese Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CE. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Celanese from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Celanese from $110.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of 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 issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.18.

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.