Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) Stock Position Decreased by Fruth Investment Management

Fruth Investment Management decreased its position in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 910 shares during the quarter. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Celanese were worth $731,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CE. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese by 128.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 183 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Celanese by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Celanese by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in Celanese by 43.2% in the 4th 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. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Celanese by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on Celanese from $100.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Celanese from $88.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Celanese from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.06.

Celanese Stock Performance

Celanese stock opened at $70.07 on Thursday. Celanese Co. has a 12-month low of $64.05 and a 12-month high of $172.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.17.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Celanese had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 10.40%. Celanese’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Celanese Co. will post 8.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Company 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.