Lifeworks Advisors LLC Has $1.33 Million Stake in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE)

Lifeworks Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Celanese Co. (NYSE:CE) by 43.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,836 shares during the quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC’s holdings in Celanese were worth $1,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Celanese by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,460,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,286,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Celanese by 3.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Celanese by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,606,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,145,000 after purchasing an additional 177,552 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Celanese by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,037,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,823,000 after buying an additional 46,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Celanese by 608.2% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 689,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,754,000 after buying an additional 592,196 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celanese Price Performance

Shares of CE opened at $55.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a PE ratio of -3.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.47. Celanese Co. has a 52-week low of $45.94 and a 52-week high of $172.16.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Celanese Co. will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Celanese Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Celanese’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -0.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho dropped their target price on Celanese from $120.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Celanese from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Celanese from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Celanese from $92.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Celanese from $73.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

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.